No matter how far you run, the past is never far behind.

Paintbrush, Book 2

Gillian Harwood and her daughter are off the grid and on the run. One wrong turn later, they’re lost in a Wyoming backwater—and headed right for a man on horseback. Gillian hits the brakes, but not quick enough.

The horse is fine. The man? Not so much. Sure, he’s pissed as hell, but Gillian’s faced far worse. She can handle one grumpy cowboy with a bum knee. That is, until she uses her skills as a masseuse to make it all better.

Quint Walters knows a wounded animal when he sees one. Sexy, secretive Gillian shows all the signs of a grown-up runaway. He should know, he’s spent his life running from his father’s expectations. Her magic touch leaves him wanting more, and as she waits for car repairs, she seems to fit naturally into small-town life, and his heart. Except she resists all his efforts to get at her core.

One mishap after another makes it seem like Fate is conspiring to throw Gillian in Quint’s path—and into his arms. The heat they generate, though, isn’t enough to drown out the nagging feeling that the past is about to smoke her out of hiding...

Warning: Sparks that ignite the whole town, dangerous secrets and some much-deserved butt-kicking.

Available from Samhain Publishing on Aug. 17, 2010

I know many an author who get up before dawn to get in a few hours of writing before they ... [fill in things that have to be done, be it a job, deal with family, school etc] and their day begins. They will sacrifice their sleep to get the words down (I can't do that—I've tried and my brain doesn't function that early in the morning). With the advent of the mini's, alphsmarts and such, folks will sit in a corner, car or bench on their lunch break to get in writing time. No socializing with coworkers. As I have none, I don't honestly know if this is a big loss or not, but for some it probably is.

Personally, I have written in lieu of housework (okay, so maybe that's not such a big sacrifice on my part). There have been times where the rest of the family is in the other room, being together and I am in my office typing away. Once or twice I have skipped a family function when I was under the wire with something. This hasn't happened often though.

It can also be cost preventative. New computers are not as bad as they used to be, but you do have to plop down a chunk. Not to mention virus protection crap and all the other trappings that come with new equipment. I have given up buying this knickknack or that; I would sooner by software then casual wear. I will say having a family of six however, the writing goodies can be on the back burner at times. It's crazy how quickly boys go through shoes—it's like a new size every 3 or 4 months, if they haven't just flat out destroyed them before that.

If it's something we want to be doing, we gladly trade off. But sometimes I think dissension can creep in and rear an ugly head of, "Why are we having mac-n-cheese again rather than your 3-hour lasagna." Or "Why can't I keep dreaming of hunk-de-jour?"

As a writer, what have you had to give up? Are you happy about it or just resigned to the fact? What are you absolutely not willing to give up?

For me, I haven't reached that, "Oh, I couldn't..." Yet. It's hard to imagine what would it would take. Maybe not having written under contract it's a way easier give and take. I have the leisure of writing when I want to—or not writing. I am only kicking *myself* in the ass when I don't keep the work up. There are something I would find a way to make sure I have, though. The internet--a necessity (I still have dial-up service, just in case). Must have music somehow. And chocolate or coffee or or the other is an absolute must have! There would be a week of mac-n-cheese if it meant my coffee would be gone otherwise. The boys understand (or will when they grow up and need that caffeine jolt!).

Usually when school gets out, it takes me a few days to get into the grove and then I am all set to rock-n-roll on my WIPs. I have gotten the most work done during the summers (and for some strange reason October). So far, since literally the school day got out Friday, it has been uber-chaos. #3 child—who can trip over his shadow—was running down a walkway and did a face-plant, tripped over actual obstacles. The teacher tells him to just go to the restroom and get a wet paper towel. He nonchalantly tells me he hurt his chin when he walked in the front door.

Four hours later, he was sporting blue stitches in his chin, had x-rays on his hand (which was fine) and scrapes everywhere. The next day got even better when, as I was changing out the bandage, the boy—who is now taller than me and weighs in at 130—passed out cold. I managed to ease him to the floor—don't know how. Child didn't bat an eye when he got a tetanus shot or the stitches, but pulling medical tape from his chin...

The boy is doing fine now—he even made a YouTube video with the pics I took of his stitches & scrapes.

The dh is STILL out of town (I may have mentioned it last week—he does NBA finals so is gone for weeks this time every year). And actually, last year at this time (granted, no kid-injuries) I was underway on a challenge Ames gave me to write 20K in June. I did it and then some. I guess I need that extra little oomp... I am going to challenge myself to do 25K this June. Anyone who wants to go in for that challenge, consider the gauntlet thrown. You can report your totals in the comments section from week-to-week until the month is over, if you want to.

I don't know if I get so much more done because the kids schedules are less stringent—I am a to-the-minute planner. With 4 kids it's necessary (and I'm completely anal--so it's a compulsion too!). Summer is way more relaxed. Other than #2 having football camp every weekday the ENTIRE summer, we got nothing to do but chillax. I have my alphasmart sitting on my bed when I hide away from the testosterone. I can get two pages done just watching a movie--four if it's a really bad movie. And a book in every purse in case I need to make a mad dash out of the house—be it for personal reasons or another unexpected emergency room visit. Reading is productive too, gotta stay versed in the current works.

Hopefully in a day or three I will get my summer rhythm down and will produce—I have 25K to get done. How 'bout y'all, what are your summer plans/goals?

... oh and... WRONG TURN, RIGHT COWBOY is up on the SP site. It will come out on Aug. 17th ...WOOT! I will show y'all the cover as soon as it get's posted :-)

Today is the release of my fifth print book THE COWBOY PLAN. This books was one of my most favorite books to write (I love them all, truth be told, or I would never have finished them, but still...). A lot of that is because how the story came to be. I've talked about it a time or two before—the backstory—of how reality can morph into a story idea. It was one of those stories that flowed when I actually sat my butt down to write.

I have to admit, though I didn't have a whole lot of control over the outcome, it is also my favorite cover of all my books. There's just something about it that makes me all warm and mush inside.

It's funny because as a writer, I have an image in my head from the moment I write the book and a lot of times when I've seen the covers, it's just not the same (okay fine, I can admit, I often times see myself as the heroine and you really wouldn't want to see me on the cover—I'm not a troll, just saying...). But this, this one was pretty dern close—scary close in fact.

One weird thing is the print cover is slightly different from the e-cover (the one shown is the "e"). My name on the print cover is right up under the title, and they mad "the" smaller and superscripted it a bit so the rest *really* stands out.

I also have another book coming out later in the summer. WRONG TURN, RIGHT COWBOY book two of the Paintbrush Series will release from Samhain in e-format (I believe August 1st, but as of writing this it hasn't posted yet). The cover is super—but I can't show it yet—and it ties is perfectly to book one. I will post it as soon as I can.

It's kind of strange to have two books releasing this summer and me feeling like I haven't been working hard enough. Luckily, it is the impetus to get me to work even more. And hopefully to make sure I have a 2011 release :-)

If you have any news you'd like to share please do, the more the merrier!