Oh yay, it’s Monday. But the weekend was fantastic. I worked of course.

Since this book will likely be moved to a sexier line, most of my editors notes are versions of. “Can we get five sex scenes?” Umm, sure thing. I’m on it. And by the way, Wizard thinks this is hilarious. He’s making all kinds of comments that the Blog Police have forbidden me from repeating here.  In all seriousness, the sex must work with the emotional arc to have any real value…I hope I’m doing that but I can’t really tell right now.

But I took two huge breaks this weekend. Late Saturday afternoon we went to see GONE GIRL and we both really liked it. Lots of twists and surprises (I didn’t read the book and I’m glad I didn’t. It was fun to be surprised), then went out to dinner. Sunday afternoon we went over CPA Boy and Special K’s for her birthday. It was so easy and fun; pizza, cupcakes, and tons of fun with the two pups. Wizard took his Asus Transformer computer tablet thingie, and he and Special K had their heads together over that, working on something or other–I think they were setting up Nexflix. Everyone is surprised at how much he’s done on it already. Wizard LOVES that tablet.

Then Sunday night I’m back at the computer working. It’s taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to do to realign this book, but now I’m hooked and working! The changes are almost done, then I’ll clean it up and send it off.

So how was your weekend?

We’ve survived one week of Wizard’s retirement! That’s a good sign, yes? Of course it helps that Wizard now has a new best friend.

This is an Asus Transformer-it’s both a small laptop and a tablet. The three boys and their girls got it for Wizard as a retirement gift.  He spent several days learning and setting it up. He’s in love! This little beauty is doing double duty–keeping him entertained AND off my desktop. Wizard had a tendency to wait for me to get up and go do something like laundry, then I come back and he’s at my desk. That makes me insane and I end up pacing and sighing waiting for him to get off my computer. But now he has A.T. keeping him totally entertained!

On my end of things, I’m back to revising Exposing the Heiress. I’ll get it done this week I hope. It’s pretty funny actually, my editor loved the book, but there’s been some debate about which line it will fit in. This is the story of my writing career, LOL! But it’s all fine now, I think.

I could’t find a new Wing Slayer Worthy Candidate tonight so I brought back an oldie:

I think the panther is totally worthy! What do you think?

Just over a week now until Wizard retires! And then he’ll be home with me. ALL DAY LONG.  Yay???

So for my Happy Friday news, I got EXPOSING THE HEIRESS back from my editor.  You all know how much trouble that book gave me right? It was crazy-making. So when I got the email in my inbox, a voice in my head said, “Don’t open that! Ignore it!”

My fingers didn’t get the message, however and opened the email. It began like this:  “Hi Jennifer! What a great story. I really liked this, and it’s in pretty good shape. Not much of a first pass to do here at all.” 

I’m like, wait, did I send her the right book? So I opened the file she sent back to check. And yep, it’s the right book. Huh, what do you know, it doesn’t suck. She didn’t even send a revision letter, just put some notes in the manuscript, and those aren’t so much about the story as fitting the line (we’re talking about moving it to a hotter line, but more on that when the decision is final).

After I got over my surprise, I was relieved and then thrilled. So I sent Wizard the email. And got this back from him: “That’s fantastic. See I told you.  Your too hard on yourself.:-)”  I laughed. Nothing like the pot calling the kettle black. Wizard is a perfectionist and very hard on himself. While I’m just trying to write a good story. See the difference? 

Now if only I can pull this off with the complex Wing Slayer Hunter Books. These plot lines are like herding a bunch of wet, pissed off cats brimming with serious attitude. And yet, I really missed those guys in all their crazy-alpha-dysfunctional-ass-kicking glory.  Watching Linc fall for Risa (his soul mirror witch) is going to make all the agony worth it.

So this weened will be some cleaning and figuring out the menu for a small family party the next weekend to celebrate Wizard’s retirement. We’re keeping it small per Wizards request.

What are your weekend plans? And do you have Happy Friday news to share?

The book is in! I sent it in yesterday afternoon. Whew, such a relief! This book took me twice as long to write as it should have. But it’s done until I get revisions. Now I’m going to catch up on a bunch of stuff, I need to do some paperwork for my German publisher, I have a phone convo with a Google rep next week after I put them off for a while, I have three months of expenses I need to get straightened out, I need to listen and edit the audio version of OBSESSION…it’s a really LONG list.  And I’ll start planning my next books.

This weekend I’m seeing Biker Witch (my sister), yay! I’m really looking forward to that.

So Wizard got home a little early yesterday, coincidentally about five minutes after I sent the book in. I told Wizard I was done until revisions. That’s ALL I said, yet he stared at me and said, “You always think the book is bad when you send it in. But it turns out to be fine.”

I’m biting my tongue, desperately trying NOT to say that. I mean I have DOUBTS and WORRIES boiling in me but I’m not going to say it. No one believes me anymore. So I’m biting my tongue, determined to act positive and confident.

And Wizard burst out laughing at me. “It’s killing you not to say it.”

I finally crack like an overripe watermelon. “It’s not fine this time, you’ll see. First, I’m not sure the publisher will like that the heroine…” And I’m off, spilling out about a fifth of my concerns. Until Wizard returns and hands me a glass of wine. “Suck it up, Witch. The book will be good.”

“But it–”

“Drink the wine. Breathe. Rinse and repeat.”

Fine. I drank the wine. And maybe it helped a little bit  Maybe Wizard’s ridiculous faith in me helps too, but I’ll worry anyway. (Seriously, there’s a good chance I’ll have massive revisions. I took a few risks…plus…never mind. Drink wine, breathe, rinse and repeat.)

Now let’s talk about one of my favorite subjects, Bailey Dog! This is the latest picture Middle Son sent me of Bailey this week.

This is Bailey’s life now–daily walks on the beach. That dog is so spoiled! Wizard and I think it’s time he’s comes to visit us and chase lizards.

So do you have plans for the weekend?

I’m cranking hard on this book, and ti’s coming together, so yay!  I still have a LOT to write, but I’m feeling it now. You know something sad? Once I do get this book in (Please God!), I am actually looking forward to cleaning my house. I never thought I’d say that!

Okay, a lot of you have probably seen this on Facebook, but I want to show it here too. So for our Wednesday Worthy Candidate–here’s the cover of HER TEMPORARY HERO:

So do you think this guy on the cover is worthy or not? (FYI-no one is going to hurt my feelings–the publisher designs the cover, not me. I’m happy with it but I didn’t have much say beyond filling out a cover-art form.)

HER TEMPORARY HERO is up for pre order at several vendors, including Amazon, B&N and Kobo, but I’m not going to link it yet because right now it’s $3.99 and during release week of July 14th it will be 99 cents. That’s a much better deal!!

I don’t know how we can be at Friday again!  The last week was a blur. We had the funeral for Wizard’s aunt yesterday which was both wonderful and exhausting. You all know how it goes–so great to see relatives and loved ones and to celebrate a life-well-lived of someone we all love, but sad and tiring too.

In good news, there’s a good chance that after four long weeks of fighting and struggling I will actually get my medication today. I’m happy about that.

I’m back at work today as well. This poor book–life has been interrupting with alarming regularity.  And the book has been a struggle, a lot like SINFUL MAGIC (book 4 in the Wing Slayer Series) was.  And yet these two characters are digging hard in my subconscious, trying to tell me to get out of their way and let them tell their story. I’m getting closer every day–I just hope I get it right.  Trying to pack this story into a shorter (category) length is a challenge.

So I haven’t asked this in a while–what are you all reading? I just finished ROCKED by Taryn Elliot and Cari Quinn. It was interesting, good to read at 2am when I had insomnia, but not totally compelling for me.

I’m back and can’t believe it’s Wednesday! The weekend flew by! Sunday we had a blast celebrating Middle Son’s birthday–but by Sunday night I was exhausted.  When all the kids, their girls and Bailey are here, it’s just too much fun.

And I have a tip for you all. Never, under any circumstances, should you let BLB (youngest son, who is an adult) make you a drink. He offered to make me one while we were in the kitchen cooking. I said, “Okay sure, go ahead and make me a gin and tonic.”

I kind of forgot about it while I was prepping the food, then I noticed the drink and took a sip. Holy Crap! I said, “BLB how much gin did you put in here?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know where the shot glass was so I just poured it in.” Then me smirked–a lot like his dad (and the guy in the picture below).

While I’m rolling my eyes trying to figure out if I should call a hazmat team, to safely dispose of the drink, Wizard strolls in the kitchen, scooped up the glass and takes a sip. “Tastes fine to me. You don’t want it?”

I swear Wizard has a cast iron stomach and super-sized metabolism. “Go right ahead, it’s all yours.”

Wizard took the drink outside to resume supervising Middle Son and his girl friend –who were doing something with beer to the carne asada marinaded skirt steak on the grill. Now I realized why Wizard stole my drink–he needed the alcohol to dull the panic. Last time Middle Son’s girl friend “doctored” up his hamburger meat, poor Wizard almost had a stroke. Now they were not only messing his food but his beer and his beloved BBQ.  Yep, he needed that drink more than me!

The carne asada fajitas turned out awesome! Even Wizard approved!

I’m back at work now, writing as quickly as I can on EXPOSING THE HEIRESS and gearing up for the release of HER TEMPORARY HERO on July 28th. Everyone is excited about HER TEMPORARY HERO, so I hope that’s a good sign. In the end, though, it’s up the readers to decide.

Tomorrow we have the funeral for Wizard’s aunt, so that will be a day off work to be with family. 

And now switching gears, our Wednesday Worthy Candidate came to us with a fully-loaded smirk:

So do you think he’s worthy? And how was your weekend?