Cover Reveal - THE ROYAL RUNAWAY!

It's time to announce the secret that I've been carrying for so many months...

Yes, you may commence with the squealing and ooohs and aaahs. I won every book cover lottery, the stars were aligned, the feng shui was perfect, and my publisher clearly loves me the most of all the authors they've ever published, in the history of the world. 

I'm not being cocky, my cover is just THAT GOOD. 

Don't you want to instagram it? Model with it? Print it out and put it on a wall? (Believe me, you're welcome to do all those things!)
 

More than that, don't you want to READ IT???

Honestly, I can't wait for the world to read it. The early readers have been sent into a tizzy by this story of the aftermath of a #RoyalWedding gone wrong. THE ROYAL RUNAWAY is the story that I've always wanted to write - a perfect blend of suspense, romance and mystery. 

THE ROYAL RUNAWAY is a princess story AND a spy story. It has kissing AND dead bodies. It has good and evil, tears and laughs. And kissing. Did I mention kissing?

Oh, you want to pre-order it?  One-click here: Amazon. (And THANK YOU for pre-ordering. It helps my publisher know that people love my stories and want more of them!)
 

Make sure that you're signed up for The Inner Circle newsletter, where I will be sharing exclusive content and inspiration for THE ROYAL RUNAWAY  in the months to come. 

And as this will be a paperback book, I will also be doing book giveaways for my social media followers and newsletter subscribers so follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter!

As always, thank you for your support and excitement! I can't wait to see what the next few months bring!

On Editing, continued.

Just turned in some book edits (for a project that's not public yet!) and O. M. G.
 

This process turned me inside out. It had me sending the following texts to writer friends*:

HELL NO I'M NOT CHANGING ANY OF IT.

IT'S OKAY IF I REWRITE CHAPTERS 10-40, RIGHT?

I'M CRYING. I LOVE [REDACTED] AND [REDACTED] SO MUCH. 

I CAN'T DO THIS BOOK JUSTICE.

I JUST WANT TO GET THIS SHIT DONE. I'M SO SICK OF IT.

*only slightly edited to get my point across*

Yeah, writers go through our own little special brand of obsessive hell during book edits (see here for a previous blog post about editing.) Part of it is our own fault, of course. 

When I was editing SISTERHOOD IS DEADLY, I had injured my right shoulder, torn all the nerves in it and lost feeling in my right fingertips.  I could only use my computer while propped up in bed, with my right arm resting on a pile of pillows. By the time that book was done, there was a small mountain of protein bar wrappers and empty Diet Dr. Pepper bottles by the side of the bed. 

No one is making me wear the same sweatshirt and lounge pants for seven days in a row. None of my editors are insisting that I listen to the same twenty songs over and over in order to submerge myself in my book's world. If I'd told my editor, "Hey I can't feel my right hand, can I have an extra week or two to get this done?" there was probably a good 50/50 shot that she would have agreed. 

But basically we're... what's that word? Where we hate ourselves and are willing to destroy the world as we know it in order to write the best book possible? Yeah, writers are that. 

Hey - there's a reason why they say to 'kill your darlings.'

Authors talk a lot about diving into a "writing cave" which is totally a real thing, but in my opinion? Nothing is as deep and dark and as all-consuming as the editing cave. It's stinky in here. It's filled with unfolded laundry, tea bags that have been reused, and a notebook that's filled with illegible notes and arrows drawn in interminable loops and possibly an entire new language that will be debuted in the revised chapter thirty. 

But, the final result is beautiful. Every time it's the best thing I've done. 

And I cannot forking wait to share it with you.

So sign up for my newsletter so that when I CAN talk about all this amazingness, you'll be the first to know. 

RESISTING SANTA - Cover Reveal!!!

It’s here! The cover for my #bookinaweek (read about the creation of it here)!

RESISTING SANTA, Book 1 of the Mistletoe Key series!

Isn't it adorable? The cover fits the book perfectly- cute, holiday fun.

Want more? Read on!

Caroling Mermaids, Snow in Florida, and Matchmaking Parrots – Who can Resist Love in Mistletoe Key?

Mistletoe Key takes Christmas traditions very seriously. So when Eliza Hart advocates for a gender-inclusive Santa late one night on public radio, she inadvertently sets off an historic island-wide scandal.  After years away, she’s just returned to the island but once again she’s persona non grata, fighting the patriarchy one Santa suit at a time.

Tiki bar owner Shep Butler had a childhood crush on Eliza and while she’s stirring up trouble in town, he can’t help the feelings she’s stirring up in him. He’s always been fascinated with her eyes and her freckles, but now her grown-up feminist opinions are a package deal and maybe even a deal breaker.

On an island where Christmas is celebrated 365 days a year, can Eliza and Shep find room at the inn for different opinions – and love – before politics and tradition tear them apart?

This book was so fun to write and I’m loving hearing back from early readers that they’re having fun reading it!

If you're in the mood for a Hallmark Christmas movie that you can read on your phone, well, this is the book for you.

Pre-order yourself a Holiday Present today!

Amazon ||iBooks || Barnes & Noble || Kobo

Everything You Need to Know About Writing You Can Learn From Rogelio De La Vega

JANE THE VIRGIN is back!!!!

Okay, I was a bit late on the Jane train. I think the word “virgin” threw me off. I knew the premise was that somehow a chaste Latina got knocked up but the story I picked up from the promos was that maybe she was hiding her sexual activity from her traditional (read: anti-sex) Latinx family and I was just not into that story.

But y’all. Jane the Virgin was not actually about that! It’s a telenovela that manages to be about family, about love, about ambition, about America, about face-stealing murderers and evil twins and snow in Miami and… it’s everything.  I cried last season. Hard. I also laugh and get inspired and I have concluded that the best character is Rogelio De La Vega.

I know, it’s a crowded field. This could be a controversial opinion.  I mean, there’s the title character, Jane. Her abuela, Alba. Her mom (oh how I love the flawed and brave Xiomara). The ever-hotness of Rafael (see below). The perfect man-next-door-ness of Michael. Hey, I’ve even warmed up to Petra, Our Lady of The Eternal Short Shorts.

But despite Mr. Sexy Pants right there, Rogelio is THE BEST. (And he would agree with me.)

 And really, every single writer in the world needs to watch Jane the Virgin (returning to the CW, 10/13, 8/9 CST) and take notes on confidence and hustle from Rogelio.

Why? He believes in himself.

He really loves his art.

He gets knocked down in the tabloids, gets second billing under his nemesis, loses everything and keeps hustling (with the support of his best friends Oprah and Charo, claro.)

And he just owns who he is, in all his lavender, spray-tan, new pants glory.

And really, that’s what all writers need to do. Embrace your inner Rogelio De La Vega. You’re hot, you’re inimitable, you’re YOU. And the world needs more of all of us. And all of YOU.

#RWA17 - #SquadGoals4Life

For some reason, this year’s post-convention wrap-up is particularly hard to write. 

RWA Nationals was last week in Orlando and it felt like a wonderful dream, one that I didn’t want to wake up from. 

Why?

My tribe, y’all.

Ride or Die Friends

The OG HBICs are my family away from my family. No one can empower me or make me laugh, cry, create like this crew.

So leaving them on Saturday? It hurt, to be honest. Physically.

More than these five ladies, I met and reconnected with more amazing kindred spirits - Frannie, Kate, Amber, Violet, Ainsley, Laura, Tamsen, Tina, Cheryl, Elizabeth, Kristin, Megan, and so many more.  In a world that so often encourages women to take each other down, to compete  with each other, to judge and to mock, for four days in July, women writers from all over the globe join together and talk about making the world a happier, more hopeful place.  And the women I met are at the vanguard of this bodice-ripping movement (in the most Diana of Themyscira way).

So, yeah. It was hard to leave this beautiful wonderland. 

So fun to celebrate Jeffe Kennedy's RITA win on the dancefloor!

Like all the HBICs, Alexis and Julia stayed until the music was over.

For one brief, shining moment, RITA was mine... until Cheryl Etchison took her away.

The best roomie ever - saved me from total disability.

Me & VonHottie singing beautifully.

Because dance parties. And golden statues. And sparkly shoes. And books. And best friends. These are the best things in the world. 

If you’re coming home from #RWA17 and want a game plan for working through all that you’ve got running through your head, subscribe to our HBIC Nation newsletter for an exclusive post-con workbook. Because we can change the world together.