All day I worked on setting up pre-orders, promotions, and a lot more. I think my brain exploded at some point. I kept telling myself – just get through all this stuff and tonight I’ll write.
So tonight I wrote. I wrote a lot. I finished the annihilate the ghost scene and the wrap it all up scene… In all I wrote over 4700 words! It’s done and sent to my beta readers. Hopefully they don’t tell me it’s horrible.
I’ve set it aside for right now. I will do a read through – probably tomorrow night – and then I’ll get down to the nitty gritty of editing. I’d love to leave it for a bit though so we’ll see.
In the end it’s a little over 17,500 words which is right in the middle of the range for the anthology. I can call this one done – at least for a couple days – before I hit the editing phase of it.
Overall, it’s been a very productive day but I’m hitting the bed and crashing for a few hours.
Wayfarer Aegis is a short story prequel to Adara and Decker’s love story. It tells the reader what happened to her on her assignment on the deep space explorer vessel which ended with over 300 dead. It’s been out for quite some time but I recently had it made into an audio book!
Lilly Canon is the artist who read my story. She nailed the characters and Adara especially. She was easy to work with and helpful. Her producer, Kyle, helped me so much it made the whole process super easy. They are a dream team!!
Blurb
Adara Stone – pilot for the Interstellar Planets Union services.
She’s half Wayfarer and half human and Captain James’ last choice as a pilot. Excited for her first long contract and explorer class ship, Adara knows she’ll spend seven years flying a ship in unknown space. She can’t wait to see what’s out there.
By the book, Captain Alden James does not want anyone varying from his flight plan. He quickly loses patience with Adara breaking protocol.
Adara craves a family but finds only recrimination and punishment. She taps into the skills dismissed by her captain and the services in order to be the best pilot she can be. When Fate intervenes, will her Wayfarer skills be enough?
This book started based solely on the question of what can a soldier do if ordered to do something they know is wrong. What would you do if you were faced with two bad options?
I wanted my main female character to make a choice knowing it would end her life or have dire consequences and see how it played out from there.
Traitor or criminal?
Lieutenant Lillian Buckner receives orders to take her squad of women pilots out to specific coordinates and destroy an unarmed transport. Lilly must decide whether to be a war criminal by firing on an unarmed vessel or to be a traitor and disobey her orders. Her life and those of her six pilots depends on her decision. No matter her decision, the punishment may kill her if she returns to the human forces.
Trust or Punish?
Lord Hugh Korol fights against the humans. They invaded the Celtan’s territory and took sectors of space from them. The humans attacked their home world. When human women aid one of their unarmed transports, he must decide what to do to them. Can he trust the one he desires or will she break more than the fragile trust growing between them?
On May 21, I’ll release my new poetry book. This book has been in my work in process pile for quite some time. When I organized recently, I asked myself why I hadn’t published it. Initially I organized it for a contest. But it didn’t win or place.
This meant it’s just been sitting in my files waiting for attention. I asked my middle daughter to create a cover and handed the manuscript over to her. She did a beautiful job formatting it.
Here’s the blurb and cover of my new poetry book. I hope you’ll give it a try.
Ever thrown a stone into a lake and watched the ripples? These poems explore the ripples of emotions caused by moments in life. This is a journey of battling societies expectations and beliefs while finding strength and power within.
When you have beautiful fluffy yarn, you have to make something equally beautiful. Both patterns can be made up in under 12 hours. They are made with super bulky yarn and provide a challenge in different ways.
A mix of patterns creates a lovely texture for this afghan. Made with super bulky yarn, it works up fast and easy. This warm throw will be a great gift or warm coxy blanket to cuddle under.
Crème de Mint Afghan is made with super bulky yarn which takes a few hours to create. The soft tones of cream and mint allow it to fit in with most décor. The pattern has a two row repeat which allows the crocheter to fall into a rhythm while working the pattern. The afghan shown is worked in a two row color repeat which means you’re changing colors every other row. Making this with one color would be just as beautiful while eliminating the need to change colors.
This is in the #KBWorld Everyday Heroes. I got this opportunity to write in this world and was scared to death of stepping outside my comfort zone. I don’t usually write contemporary romance – though I love it.
I put it aside – though I had a year to write it. I kept saying – oh I need to write it but I have no idea how to do this. I saw her books were written in first person of which I’m not a huge fan. I asked and I didn’t have to write in first person.
I kept putting up roadblocks for myself. Then it came down to two months before it was due. I was like holy crap I need to get this written. So I started writing. First decision – Allison would be an older woman, mature and not overly interested in a new relationship since she got out of a 20 year bad marriage.
From there the story grew and I remembered why I love to write contemporary romance. Each scene fed off the previous but at one point, I wanted them to go on a date – well group date. I asked my daughters for ideas. I didn’t want them to go to dinner or out to a movie. My oldest daughter suggested a scenario and I liked it so I went with it.
When it came time to write the scene I said I need a song. Now I like music and will listen to a lot of varieties of music but within the scope of their setting, I wanted a romantic song which didn’t go over the top. This song was supposed to be a prelude to their first love scene. I got opinions from a lot of people and it came down to a couple of songs. Again I turned to my family because I love music but I’m horrible at remembering names and artists. Since my oldest picked the scene, she piped up and said, I picked the scene, go with this song. I said – okay.
One thing I haven’t talked about much is that Allison is handicapped. She was in an accident which made it hard for her to get around. Chandler from the beginning didn’t seem to notice her handicap. Then as the story went on, he saw her struggle with things like he drove a truck which was hard for her to get into. I liked the evolution of how he didn’t pay attention to her issues but then he starts to realize how it makes her life harder and he wants to make her life easier.
On the Line
On the Line is a mature, contemporary romance written in K Bromberg’s Everyday Heroes World and filled with emergencies and emotional connections.
Sunnyville offered Allison a return to a happy time in her life after leaving her cheating husband. After the drama of a car accident and the failure of her marriage, she wants nothing but peace and quiet. With the help of her daughters, she’s settled in her new home. She wants to do her job as a 911 operator and live a quiet life.
When his father fell off a ladder and his mother called 911, Chandler didn’t realize how much it would impact his life. One look at Allison and he knew he had to convince her to meet his family. But her ex-husband believes she’s still his. Is Chandler stepping over a line when he uses his computer skills to learn more about her ex?
“So… you’re rich,” he said. “Will you be my sugar mama?”
She laughed. “Maybe. Depends…”
“On what?” Chandler asked.
“You’re respectful. I like when you open my door. It makes me feel cared for,” she admitted.
“Good so…”
“I have more than one requirement,” she wiggled her finger at him. “You can cook. My daughters like you.”
“I like this ticking off of my good qualities,” he said.
“You have a good body which I have picture proof of, at least part of your body,” she bit her lip. Before he said anything, she continued, “But I’ve only seen part of your body and I don’t know how well you employ the more interesting parts of your body.”
“You mean my brain, right?” he asked.
“Oh no,” she said. “I promised myself a really good lover when I got rid of my husband and stole half his money.”
As she parked the car, he leaned over and murmured, “Turn the car around and I’ll show you the things I want to do to you.”
“What things?” she swallowed as she turned to him. Heat ripped through her and settled in her gut. She was certain her panties were damp and it wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge.
As their lips were about to touch, Jesse banged on the top of her car. “Come on,” he said. “Do that later. We have darts to throw.”
Chandler growled and fumed at the interruption. Allison bit her lip for a moment and then burst out laughing. “Guess we’ll have to wait awhile for me to discover whether you pass muster in those other areas.”
“I’m gonna kill my brother,” Chandler joined her in laughing.
“That will make it hard for me to discover more about certain attributes,” Allison said.
“Is there a chance of me giving you a demonstration later?” he asked.
“There’s always a possibility,” she said kissing his surprised mouth.
On the Line is a mature, contemporary romance written in K Bromberg’s Everyday Heroes World and filled with emergencies and emotional connections.
Sunnyville offered Allison a return to a happy time in her life after leaving her cheating husband. After the drama of a car accident and the failure of her marriage, she wants nothing but peace and quiet. With the help of her daughters, she’s settled in her new home. She wants to do her job as a 911 operator and live a quiet life.
When his father fell off a ladder and his mother called 911, Chandler didn’t realize how much it would impact his life. One look at Allison and he knew he had to convince her to meet his family. But her ex-husband believes she’s still his. Is Chandler stepping over a line when he uses his computer skills to learn more about her ex?
A sweet fantasy romance. I wrote this one for a group project which I ended up not participating. It was one scene, short and a snippet really. I built it up with the original scene being my last scene.
Marelo studies water dragons. Bandor studies her heart.
Driven to succeed, Marelo focuses on her studies. She doesn’t have time for males claiming her as a mate. She came here to study the dragon’s ancestral home. She will find the evidence she needs while avoiding all males especially Bandor who makes her heart rush.
Bandor takes one look at Marelo and knows she’s his mate. Her haughty demeaner doesn’t put him off. She’s his mate, he’ll do anything to win her. But he has secrets only his mate can know. Can he convince her to be his mate or will it take something more?
Pain made her cruel. Can love help her find peace?
By Eileen Troemel
Doug Kronnig, university professor, has taken three of his relatives to the emergency room in a week. His father, brother-in-law, and sister have all had nasty accidents which could have resulted in much worse results than they did. Now the FBI is investigating but not the normal FBI, the paranormal unit.
Harper Stanley and her partner Devin Jacobsen with the FBI paranormal unit know they’ll have another victim of the stalker at Halloween. The stalker starts ten days before Halloween and tortures a family. The man has cheated and his family pays the price until Halloween. By Halloween, the victim dies by the will of the entity they’ve chased for seven years.
This year they discover the targeted victim. Doug Kronnig doesn’t quite fit the profile. He’s not in a relationship nor has he cheated but for some reason, the stalker has targeted him. In a short span of time, Harper finds herself drawn to this funny, quiet man.
Can she stop the stalker or will Doug end up as another victim Harper couldn’t save?
With all the things going on in our house with the remodel, we’ve been discombobulated in the rest of the house. This means my crocheting has been stashed away. So I haven’t really been crocheting at all.
Love a great yarn sale…
Now there are two things which sooth me – crocheting and writing. There’s nothing better than having a movie weekend and working on a crochet project. Or to have a week off work and spend as much time as possible writing.
July I released Through Destiny’s Eyes. In August I was part of Into the Dark anthology and To the Moon and Back anthology. I loved both opportunities. They tapped into different writing challenges for me. Saturday I release Paranormal Investigator Files and I’ve been prepping for this event. I also have a release a month through February.
That’s a lot of marketing and promotional work. It’s detail work which is often repetitive. This is not my favorite thing to do but if I don’t then no sales. So it’s an essential activity I must do.
The opportunity to be part of another anthology came to me. Pushing myself to finish a short story in about a month made me realize how much I love writing. Pumping out anywhere from 2K to 5K or more in a night satisfies me in a way I don’t know that I can describe. It takes me to a place I rarely go. I feel fulfilled and satisfied with me. I get the same feeling when I crochet.
Clearly I need to find a balance. I’ve struggled with blurred and double vision and headaches because I’m spending so much time on the computer. So tonight instead of feverishly trying to get promotions done so I can squeak out some family and writing time, I spent tonight with family and not looking at my computer. I started designing a new pattern for crocheting and have really enjoyed crocheting – playing with colors and stitches and figuring out what works.
This was one of my best purchases
Tomorrow night, I’ll be working on the short story to edit, rewrite and see if I can squish it down to 15K. In my head, I’ve accepted I will end up publishing it myself. Don’t get me wrong – I want to be in the anthology. I just like a backup plan. So when I’m revising and editing, I’ll be looking at how to revamp it so I can expand it if I need to publish it myself if needed.
I need a little bit of all – practically I need to have time to promote my books, time to write and time to crochet and design. So I’m working on it. This weekend, a bit of promoting and crocheting. Then later this month I have a week off and I’ll spend those days juggling all three activities. My hope is I’ll be able to finish a project or two for writing. But also work on crocheting and designing. I have gifts to make for the holidays and biographies to watch (or movies or ???). Intertwined with those activities, I’ll work on promoting.
