What's Up in Anne's World?

So, yes, these past four or five weeks, I admit the daily blog thing hasn't been happening. This term, I am teaching two courses, with a total of 160 students, so my time is tight - mixed with my actual writing, my son, my academic and freelance writing, several flus/colds, and general life stuff. Blogging seemed to be a low-maintenance victim to the need to sleep occasionally. I have some hope of things evening out now that a few projects have been beaten into submission, but there's always another project, right?

I very briefly considered getting out of blogging altogether - and, indeed, out of writing fiction for publication, since it (along with the required hours of promotion and networking) seemed to be a full time job in itself, which would make it my third full time gig.

However, I am still around. Actually, I have been fairly productive, just perhaps not in ways that are readily visible at the moment.

So, I would like to share with you some nice news - I have another release coming very soon; a Valentine's Day erotic-romance short, with heavy doses of comedy, called V-Day, which will be released by Wicked Nights on February 11! The cover looks pretty great (see above), and I have to give lots of kudos to the brave folks at Wicked for accepting a book that is... well... Non-traditional is one way to describe it. You'll see when you read it. It's not your common erotic-romance.

V-Day is told through the eyes of a lovesick young man, Daniel, who spends his life in pursuit of musical excellence, hemmed in by his nutty family, who could all use a bit of a break from each other. V-Day is the story of a Valentine's Day weekend he will never, ever forget, where he becomes decidedly un-Daniellike. And it all starts with an impromptu performance of one of my favourite pieces, Beethoven's Romance No 2 in F Major.

Even if I do say so myself, that scene is particularly sweet.

In other news, my novel, Strings Attached (Wild Horse Press) is still planned for release in May 2011, which is fast approaching, at long last - edits and such will continue, and I really hope you like it. Soon, I hope to have another full length ready to submit. And, with V-Day, I am continuing on my planned five story holiday themed series for Wicked, and am already formulating something really grand for St Patrick's Day.

I am also gearing up for some major website revamping over the next little while in anticipation of promoting my full length, so I will be sharing some news about that as the next month or so rolls along.

I also got a few good reviews recently, which really made my day, and I look forward to getting my work out there a bit more, and will really try to do some more guest blogging very soon. Unwrapping Scrooge (Decadent Publishing) got three cups from Coffee Time Romance, and reviewer Patrizia Murray at Manic Readers gave Good for the Goose 4.5 stars out of 5, calling the sexual buildup "mesmerizing" (which I think may be the nicest compliment my writing ever received). These were great boosts for me, and weighed positively in my decision to stay in the ring a bit longer.

As long as people are enjoying my writing, I am glad to keep doing it.

Anyway, so that is what's up around here. My son and I are starting to defeat the random colds and flus, and things are getting back on track. I am so grateful to all the authors who have visited the blog and kept it alive during my radio silence, and I hope you enjoyed meeting some writers, and continue to discover some new favourites through their posts on this blog.

I hope all is well out there, and please stay tuned for more from me as the weeks progress - including new excerpts, trailers and news!

Hugs and kisses,
Anne