Moving Forward

Moving Forward

Growing pains. I haz them.

Cover design by Scott Carpenter

In the past three weeks, I’ve finished the back matter on the three Caine novels; I’ve set up my Reader’s Group on Facebook, with some (a LOT) of help from Alexis M. Roark; I’ve rebooted my newsletter and gotten it sent out (again, with a LOT of help from Lexi); and I’m finalizing the last-minute touches on the Freebie novella, Wolf’s Heart, which will be going ONLY to my Newsletter Subscribers (woot, woot!) and will never be for sale in its current form. (Which means, I MAY re-write the whole thing and turn it into a full-length novel. We’ll see.)

I’ve also joined an Author Group Cinco de Mayo Pub Crawl, where the grand prize is a $175 gift card, and each individual author also has prizes to give away. The catch? You need to join each author’s Reader Group on Facebook – where you’ll get news before anyone else, be asked to review books in advance of sale, and other goodies.  This has been fun, and I’ve had a LOT of people join my reader group, which is so gratifying. I feel like I’m gearing up for next year, if that makes sense!  (For more information on the Cinco de Mayo Virtual Pub Crawl, which starts at 12:01AM, May 5th, and lasts 48 hours, go here. If you want to join my Book Love Reader’s Group on Facebook, go here.)

Travels of Christine

Cover for NWTS 2019

So far this year, I have been to the Northwest Tarot Symposium in Portland, Oregon, where I met so many wonderful people…I truly found my tribe. Or rather, my other tribe, as Romance Writers are my tribe as well. I am most definitely going back next year.

I learned from some wonderful people, and fell in love with way too many tarot and oracle decks. I have a new obsession, apparently…more on that in another blog post (but if we’re FB friends, you’re seeing my journey). I made friends so fast, and miss them. Ah well, there’s always Facebook…

Next, I’m off to Denver in July, for the Romance Writers of America’s National Conference. 2,000 women and men who write romance, getting together to teach, and learn, and laugh, and network. I have so many friends scattered across the country / world, and this conference is one place where I get to see/meet/hug many of them. I haven’t been since San Diego in 2016, so I am seriously looking forward to Denver!

Publishing Schedule, 2018

As I mentioned in my last blog post, City Lights Press is re-issuing my Caine Brothers novels with new covers (wowza!) and more content (yay!). I’m super excited for the re-

Cover Design by Scott Carpenter

launch – as soon as I get a schedule, I’ll be sure to let you all know, too.

Next up is an Urban Fantasy novel, which will be in an entirely FREE box set – 24 novels in all, FREE. My novel is A BRAND NEW SERIES titled The Blood Legacy Series, and the novel is The Curse of Elliott Jones. It should be available in July 2018.

In August, I’ll be putting out my smexy holiday story that was available last year in a box set…Snowed In at Christmas.

Then I’ll be writing furiously on the next full-length novel to come out in December, also in a box set…this will be the start of a ANOTHER BRAND NEW PARANORMAL SERIES. Once I have more info (that I can share, lol), I’ll let you know.

Well my lovelies, that’s about it for now. I’m aiming to get my wine reviews back up and running next week, which is always fun (and frankly, its been TOO LONG since I’ve done it).  My life is full, and happy, and I’m headed out to spend the weekend with my big brother because it’s been too long.

Sending you lots of love!

)O(

Pssst…check out my Amazon Author Page, and make sure you click the “Follow” button so you’ll get news of ALL my releases!

 

 

Winding Down 2017, Planning 2018

Conflicted

I’m conflicted about 2017. Politically it has been perverted and ugly and it will take our country decades to recover from the policies put into place this year.

Personally, it has been the best of years, and the worst of years. The worst was losing my father in March. The best has been time spend with family and loved ones, stretching from early in 2017, to the time spent in Cambria over the Christmas holidays.

Working through getting my father’s estate settled meant I got to spend a lot of time with my brother from March to June; it seemed like every other weekend we were together. I also got to see my nephew and family (and my new baby grandnephew!), which was a delight.

I had one novel published, and two novellas. I wanted to do more in 2017, but grief slammed me sideways. I’m not going to beat myself up over it, because there’s no point – but in 2018, I am going to put me first, my work first, rather than give other work precedence. I am going to hew to my schedule, rather than let myself be swayed by the inaction of others.

My Plans

So, for 2018, I have a new dark urban fantasy series (NOTE – this is NOT a romance series!) coming out, called The Forgotten Ones. The first novel I hope to have ready for June timeframe. In May the prequel novel will be out in a box set, and it will be FREE to all. I’ll post when that’s a done deal.

I’m also revamping Wolf’s Heart (which is currently unavailable), the Caine-adjacent novel that details Doc Megan’s romance. THIS book has a tie-in to the above dark urban fantasy novel…the master vampire at the end of the book is the villain in the Forgotten Ones series. I want this to come out in March, so I’ve got some work cut out for me.

I also have the ballet series that I’m working on – the first book is in edits stage and then I’ll send it to the editor who (fingers crossed) will get back to me fairly quickly and I’ll hop to finish the other two.

In between these, I plan to re-release Snowed In at Christmas (probably in July), and hopefully another holiday novella or two. We shall see.

And there are always the surprise novellas…those opportunities that come out of the blue. So my year is pretty full, already!

Travel

I’m planning on going to the Northwest Tarot Symposium in Portland, Oregon the first weekend in March, 2018, mainly to hang out with Arwen Lynch Poe but I’m also looking forward to the inspiration I know I’ll find there (plus maybe an opportunity to see relatives).

My next appearance will be at RWA National Conference in Denver, Colorado July 16 – 21, 2018.

The last one currently scheduled for 2018 is the Romance Author Mastermind conference with Skye Warren in Houston, Texas on September 26 – Oct 1, 2018. I’m looking forward to taking my career the next step.

So, that’s a brief round-up of 2017 and a more positive look ahead to 2018.

Oh, and I am planning on getting on the newsletter bandwagon – once every few months most likely to start. If you think you’d like to get news from me, please click on the link in the upper right corner on this page here.

)O(

May your burdens be light and your blessings be many. Sending love and hugs to you all.