Joely Sue Burkhart's Blog, page 82

Vacation Reads Blog Tour

During the month of July I'm participating with several (30!) authors in a group blog tour called Seasonal Reading.  In July, we'll be featuring sets of different books that will make great reads for the lazy days of summer.  Each weekend, we'll offer great prizes, including copies of the featured titles, promotional items, and more! 

1. Each weekend, we will be offering great prizes, including copies of the featured titles, promotional items, and more!  To enter the drawing, please leave a...

July Goals

For the first time in years, I haven't suffered the "dog days of summer" syndrome.  *knocks on wood*  It seems like most years, I have to kiss the writing goodbye during the summer months.  It's too hard to get up in the mornings, because I stay up too late enjoying the evening hours of daylight.  The kids are up later, which make it hard to write at night, and if I'm not getting up early, then I can't get anything done.

Having a deadline that I really wanted to meet has helped...

Holiday Novella: First Draft Snippet

Wheeeeee, it's done.  It's done!  The holiday novella is clocking in at 30,958 words total, putting today's count at just over 5,800 words.  It still needs quite a bit of work so the next two weeks will still be full.  However, I'm taking a few days off from the novella to work on the Maya #2 synopsis.  That way I'll have a somewhat fresh eye when I come back to revision.

This is first draft only, subject to heavy revision, and like I said earlier, an entirely new endeavor for me, but one...

Novella Update

I'm in the final stretch.  After two big days (over 4K yesterday), I broke 25K and I'm in the climax of the story.  I know roughly what needs to happen, but the timing shocked me last night (or maybe I'm just bone tired).  All the sudden, the bad guys were there, on page, and I was like OH, here.  Okay!  I need to get through the life-or-death showdown, then a happy reunion between my heroine and her heroes (yes, plural, sigh), and then the final scene. 

I might…MIGHT…have to write that final ...

The Finish Line is in Sight

You've probably noticed the lack of "normal" blog posts this month.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  MayNoWriMo about killed me.  All that admin stuff just keep me crazy busy.  Then with The Bloodgate Guardian releasing this month, there were more guest posts to write and organize, which I got behind on, and then my website was down several days last week, throwing another kink into the mix.  I still owe some interview stuff to people – but until I meet my current deadline, I'm...

Review: The Bloodgate Guardian Recommended Read!

Rae Lori has posted a review of The Bloodgate Guardian as a recommended read:

 I really enjoyed this book filled with action, adventure, a little bit of romance and a lot of suspense. One of the many strengths of this book was the characters and story pacing. I loved that Jaid is not a generic kick butt heroine who rejects all feeling except her libido to do whatever needs to be done.

One last aspect out of many I really enjoyed about this story was the world building and the history of the...

Carina Guest: Claire Robyns

Thanks for having me here, Joely.

I'm Claire Robyns and I'm very excited about my Carina Press release as this is my debut book. Betrayed is a medieval romance set in Scotland during the reign of King James I shortly after his release from England. This turbulent period fascinates me – think of the most outlandish plot, and you'll probably find a documented occurrence of a border laird doing just that.

 Betrayed releases from Carina Press on 5th July.

  

Two Feuding Families

Amber Jardin has no...

And we're back!

Sorry about the down-time this week.  At last, I'm entirely free of yahoo after they held my blog hostage and the fiasco last year when I thought I'd transferred my domain AND my hosting but had only taken care of the latter.  Since I'd cancelled my account with yahell, they were charging me the low low price of $38 a year (cough) for my domain.  I paid about that for two years with GoDaddy including the privacy stuff.

I owe some guest blog spots, which I'll work on this weekend.  I've been...

Swelter

My beloved Sis once wrote a short story with this title.  I never thought *we* would be sweltering.

Our 2007-installed Trane AC compressor has never worked right.  When we moved in here last year, the previous tenants had never changed the filters and they had three cats —-> quilts over the air returns.  The unit froze up the first month we were here and we've had problems with the stupid thing ever since.  It works fine up to a certain point — so the three technicians we've had out couldn't f...

Carina Guest: Alice Gaines

 From Miss Foster's Folly, by Alice Gaines (www.alicegaines.blogspot.com) available now from Carina Press (www.carinapress.com) 

      David Winslow, the Marquis of Derrington has arrived at the home of American heiress, Juliet Foster, to ask her to become his wife… 

      Miss Juliet Foster rose when he entered, but she hardly resembled the Juliet Foster he'd encountered before. Instead of a dress in mourning black, buttoned up nearly to her chin, she wore a ball gown in crimson silk. The...