Tera Shanley's Blog, page 10

...Big News...

Big things have been happening behind the scenes around here. Dead Run River got an official release date of October 22 (two more months!) and I've been working furiously on edits and paperwork to make sure all is smooth sailing with my zombie romance.

The paperwork for the cover idea is finally sent in and we should have one by the end of next month. Omnific has beautiful covers, so i'm thrilled to see what they come up with. I have to admit this is something I wake up every morning excited for. Cover reveals have to be one of the most exciting parts of a writing career! It seems real when there is a cover to represent the story waiting inside.

So now for the giant news: I received an offer of representation from Elizabeth Pomada of Larsen Pomada Literary Agents for my Dawson Brides trilogy! She'd asked for my full manuscript a month ago and I got "the call" last week. She said she read it all in one sitting and loved it. She was one of my top picks and I'm so humbled and grateful that everything has happened in the order it was supposed to happen. I had this plan to write a trilogy, shop it to agents, and see where it landed, and somehow by some miracle that plan came to fruition. I'm now working hard to polish the first book of the series for her to start shopping it in October. My lovely beta reader has it at the moment to try and catch the blips i'm missing. As soon as everything gets going with that, I promise I'll post a "How I Found My Agent" blog :)

Things are moving right along and in two tiny months I'll have my debut release. It's something I think about daily. This hum of excitement seems to be waiting just under my surface for October. The blog tour is scheduled, tour prizes ordered, paperwork done, and all i'm lacking is one last look over the galley file I'll be receiving soon and a cover reveal.

Every single day is so exciting right now!

...And Then a Ray of Sunlight Broke through the Clouds and Shined on a Monday...

Squelch! Exciting things have been happening behind the scenes and for some reason I've kept them tucked tightly into the seam of my over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder (its a family thing, my aunt carries her chapstick in her bra, my grandma money, me? still waiting for those suckers to grow so there's room for hidden treasures;) and out of the universe for reasons I myself don't even fully comprehend.

"What is she talking about?!" you are probably asking yourself.

Well it has to do with exciting news about Dead Run River, my apocalyptic love triangle romance releasing soon in paperback. I'm NOT telling the big secret, but I will say this. Last week I was sent a little linky link to a Goodreads page where low and behold...there was my very first book. Dead Run River by Tera Shanley, it read. My grin almost broke my face.

It's an exciting thing to have a book on Goodreads! It has a summary, people can see what its about and add it to their 'to-read' lists. It's taken a few days to get that little booky book claimed as my own and to switch from a normal member account to...wait for it...MY VERY OWN AUTHOR PAGE! *confetti, champagne, whoooooo*

So here it is, my coverless (for now) book isn't so lonely now that I've drawn it under my ecstatically flapping wing.

If it sounds up your alley, I wouldn't mind at all if you added Dead Run River to your 'to-read' list :D

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18303570-dead-run-river

Hope you all are having a marvelous week!

...Summer Lovin' Blog Hop...

Welcome to the Summer Lovin' Blog Hop. Over fifty authors and bloggers have joined together to give you the chance to win an awesome bundle of books as well as read some great posts. Be sure to go to each blog  and comment with your email to up your chances of winning. Each comment counts as an entry!
I've been looking so forward to participating in the Summer Lovin' Blog Hop through Love Lust & Lipstick Stains, and here we are! The day for celebrating summer with a ton of other awesome authors has arrived.

Summer! Beaches, theme parks, watermelon seed spitting contests, barbecues, sleeping in, s'mores, pool parties, and camping with friends. Nothing can beat a lazy summer day with nothing on the calendar and an entire day to figure out the funnest way to beat the heat. Since most of the books I devour tend to be set in winter (what does that say about me?) - I'm going to do something a little different and talk about my summer favs.

Favorite Summer Memory:
My siblings and I used to spend summers with my grandma (if you've kept up with my blog, you know she was a cattle rancher and all around bad-in-a-good-way-lady) and between feeding her cows, camping out in the back of the truck when heifers were laboring, and running from snakes, she'd take us to a playground called Firemen's Park. Well one summer, my cousin and I found a goose egg by a tree at the park. Just a lone egg with no mommy in sight, and I, being the animal enthusiast that I am, decided I was going to hatch that egg and become a mother at the tender age of ten. And my grandma, bless that woman, didn't want to tell me the egg was rotten and abandoned because she 's a firm believer that if I want something, I should go get it. So for one week, I sat on her couch with the rotten goose egg under my legs while I watched every cartoon known to kidhood. Rocko's Modern Life, Ren and Stimpy, and Rugrats were my companions as I tried to hatch that little egg.

My cousin sat faithfully by me and we fantasized about what awesome goose mommas we'd make. Grandma even brought me meals on the couch so my baby egg wouldn't get cold. Remember at age ten how hard it was to sit still when the bright summer sunshine was beckoning through the window panes? Determined, I sat and watched, watched and waited, waited then eventually gave up on my likely smelly non-baby gosling. The hope of holding that fuzzy ducky was what kept me going. That hope is what makes it one of my favorite summer memories and brings a smile to my face when I think of all the hours I sat on my leather couch nest trying to hatch a rotten egg with my cousin and grandma cheering me on.

I was THIS close to being Mother Goose, hehehonk ;)



Favorite Summer Movie:
A toss up between Point Break (because: Keanu Reeves) and Into the Blue (action, adventure, swim trunks, boats, Jessica Alba, and if given the chance, I'd sleep in Paul Walker's facial scruff.)




Favorite Summer Food:
Cherries!




Now for a question for all of you following this hop. In a bout of self-improvement, I've decided I need to get out of the winter books and find a good, sizzling summer read.

What's your favorite summer read?(my beloved kindle needs a good shot of summertime:)
*********************************************************************************Don't forget to leave your email address in the comment, and hop along to other authors pages.
The more comments, the more chances to win the awesome 40 E-Book swag pack as well as individual prizes offered on different pages.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your summer!

...Growing Pains for Writers...

I remember growing up my little sister would get growing pains. She's a long legged, beautiful woman at almost 6 foot tall, and me at not even 5 foot tall was surpassed by her height at a pretty young age. By twelve, she was no longer my little sister anymore, she was my younger sister. She used to cry because of growth spurts. They were so painful, and though I never experienced growing pains of my own, as my minuscule growth was slow and tapered off around age fourteen, I would just sit by my sister in misery because she was aching to her very bones and there was nothing my mother and I could do to help. She'd jump up an inch or two and then she'd hurt to walk for a while until her body adjusted to the new height.
Writing is kind of like that for me. Nobody writes a white stag for their first novel. It isn't flawless. It'll sell if you put enough effort into redrafting and pre-editing, but through the editing process the author will learn so much on that first book. I've found that in the peaks and valleys lies triumph and insecurity. I have no doubt these growth spurts will continue throughout my career, but with each round of content edits, I get this sense of pity for my editors at having to read some of the eye scorching things I was unaware I was doing wrong. And as I make the last correction on each manuscript, I feel this jubilation, like an 'aha' moment that I know will help me in future writing. It comes in waves. Waves of insecurity at not being perfect, followed by the high of those niggling doubts giving me relief because I've learned something important.
Editors aren't just the people who make your book look better, read better. It's a team effort to get it where it needs to be. They're teachers, bravely taking new authors under their wings knowing we require more work, more lessons on Point of View, trusting our dialog, head hopping, and weeding out the pepper of unnecessary pronouns.
I just did a fifth draft of Small Town Surrender and I haven't even shopped it yet. With every round of edits I do on my other books, I go back and beautify it. With every new draft I get an unsavory look at what I was doing wrong and it hurts a little not to be perfect. BUT in the immortal words of the Lowe's commercial: "Never Stop Improving."
Growing pains can be painful and hard, but in the end, improvement is key.

...Sunshine and Summertime...

Life in Shanley-Land has been organized chaos lately but I can honestly say I love it this way. My little girl is starting kindergarten next month so we've been trying to enjoy these summer days as much as possible. In the first time since the early 1900's Texas enjoyed a cool July day with a high of 73. I ALMOST wore a hoodie today... in July! It feels like October and accordingly, my dad and I started preparing for the upcoming hunting season. My little boy, who loves helping his pepaw build any and everything, assisted him in cleaning his bow today. While he was happily busy with a handful of screws and washers, my daughter and I were making decorations for my dad's birthday dinner tomorrow night.


I love that my girl is so crafty. She is a little doppelganger of my husband, but she is so much like me in other ways. It's just so cool seeing these little personalities develop! She's clean, and artistic, and the ultimate rule-minder. My son, on the other hand, is a tornado.

 Don't ask why there's dirt around his mouth. The answer is super gross.

So besides running around after my sweet kiddos full time, I've been working feverishly on another round of content edits for An Unwilling Husband. The five month countdown has begun and with every round of edits and every layer of polish, I just get so excited about the way the book is coming along. This round was a big one and I learned so much that I will be applying to my other books. I'm pretty grateful to have an editor who is cool about taking extra time to explain everything so that I can hone my craft. The more you write, the better you become, but it's nice to have someone to tell me places I can improve. I love this learning process! There's a huge learning curve for first time authors and with every round of edits comes a wealth of knowledge I would've never thought about without someone there to explain the why's.

Now that edits are sent in, I have a little break and I'm going to spend as much time with my little family as I can. I mean, I want to annoy them with my love! Zoo, Aquarium, dollar movie family dates, and surprise adventures. Gonna do this summer right :)

Liza O'Connor's Worst Week Ever Interview

 Tera: Today we have Liza O'Connor's Investigative Reporter to give us the low down on Trent Lancaster, the dubious hero of Worst Week Ever.

IP:  Just call me IP. Everyone does.Tera: Is that  pronounced 'Eye Pee' or Eep?IP: I'm not a frog. It's the initials, IP. You know, like JR.Tera: Well, welcome IP. What juicy back-story tidbits do you bring us today?IP: I want to discuss the reasons why Trent is less than likable at times.
Tera: I think my followers would like to know that.IP: Trent had an older brother whom his parents adored. They barely noticed Trent. He wasn't needed. He was only the required spare in case something happened to their beloved Eldridge Lancaster the 8th.Tera: I haven't heard anything about him.IP: That's because at sixteen to reward himself for becoming the Lacrosse Captain in his junior year, he decided to treat himself to a $63,000 bottle of whiskey.Tera:  Who would pay  so much for a bottle of whisky?IP: People with too much money. Mr. Lancaster prided himself on having the best of the best. So he purchased a single bottle of Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt Scotch whiskey created from single malts that dated between 1868 and 1939. There were only 12 bottles originally created, so it was one of rarest whiskeys to be had.  Tera: Surely he didn't leave it sitting in a decanter on the counter for a teenager to drink.IP: No, it resided in his climate controlled and always locked drinking cellar. Somehow Junior had acquired the key to it. Being a clever lad, he had the key duplicated, planted the duplicate in Trent's room, no doubt so his brother would take the fall when they later discovered the whiskey gone. Knowing his parents wouldn't be back until late the next day, he acquired the rare whiskey, climbed into a floating pool recliner and drank himself into proud oblivion.  13 yr old Trent also took advantage of his parent's absence to have some fun. He and some buddies drove down the Atlantic City, snuck in and managed to lose about a hundred grand before they got thrown out.Tera:  I hope there were servants in the house to stop Eldrige from drinking or at least get him out of the pool?IP: No, he gave them all the weekend off. Tera: Why would they take orders from a sixteen year old?IP: They commonly ignored Trent, but jumped to obey the young man who would someday be their master.Tera: So who was around to save Eldrige?IP:  No one. Trent returned around noon the next day and went straight to bed. He didn't wake until his parents burst into the room accusing him of murdering their beloved son. When his father attempted to strangle him, Trent finally confessed where he'd been.  Fortunately, for Trent, the Casino's have camera's everywhere, thus no one had to take his word when he declared himself innocent.Tera: This is a very sad story for both boys.IP: Well, for Trent, matters went downhill from there. Instead of focusing on the son they still had, they set about recreating the son they loved. They made Trent dress and look like Eldrige, even making him wear the boy's clothes and hairstyle.Tera: Poor Trent. Hopefully this didn't go on for too long.IP: For three years, at which point Trent outgrew all of Eldrige's clothes and they'd realized this angry, resentful boy would never become the beloved son they'd lost. His mother ceased speaking to him entirely and his father only spoke to him in anger.Tera: I'm surprised he didn't run away!IP: The price of growing up overly-indulged is that rich teens become a prisoner to their lifestyle. They have no choice but to dance to their parent's whims. Trent was no different. Until his father died three years ago, he had to dance to the man's tune. And believe me, there was no love in that song-- only contempt and anger that Trent lived while Eldrige died.Tera: Now I want to give Trent a hug.IP: You'll get over it. Just be in his presence for  ten minutes and any thought of hugging him will disappear.Tera: But he seems to improve around Carrie.IP: He does, but then most guys improve when they are trying to woo a girl. I would always remember to put the toilet seat down during my courtship. But I reverted after I married.Tera: So Trent doesn't put down the toilet seat?IP: I've no idea. His estate and penthouse both have self-lowering seats.  All I'm saying is we guys don't change that much. Tera: So you don't think Carrie should hook up with Trent?IP: My professional opinion? No. But her love to be needed and his extraordinary neediness will probably overrule good sense for the near term. Hopefully, she'll not rush into anything.Tera: Well, I agree she shouldn't rush into things, but I hope you're wrong about Trent. Maybe he'll stop channeling his horrible father and reach his true potential.IP: I was hired to report on facts, not whimsical dreams of the future, so I'll be going now.Tera: Thanks for coming IP. Understanding Trent's past encourages me to cut him some slack. So let's learn a bit more about this story.

Worst Week Everby Liza O'ConnorNew Adult, Humor, Contemporary


BLURBWhat do you get when you put a hardworking, can-do middle-class young woman together with a egoistical, outrageous, billionaire boss, then throw in the worst week of disasters imaginable?Book 1 of the 3 book series A Long Road to Love.
Worst Week Ever.
Trent Lancaster spends one month without his Executive Assistant, or as his drivers refers to Carrie: 'Trent's brain, left hand, and right hand'. He's had a miserable month without her at his side and to ensure it never happens again, he intends to marry his brilliant beauty. Only given all the times he's threatened to fire her, he's not sure she even likes him. However, the future of his company and his happiness depend upon him succeeding, so Trent begins a slow one week seduction that happens to coincide with Carrie's Worst Week Ever when everything that can go wrong does so in hilarious form. (Hilarious to the reader--Carrie is not having much fun this week.)
EXCERPTThe door burst open and Trent strode in, followed by a man dressed in a black suit, carrying a tray of food. “Good, you’re finally awake. Saves me from having to throw cold water on you.”Trent sat on her bed as he pointed to the desk. “Put her breakfast there.”“On the one of a kind, heirloom desk, which has been in your family since 1845?” his butler asked.“Yes.”“No!” Carrie yelled over him. “Let’s put it on the bed stand.” She pushed the Tiffany lamp further back to make room.“Thank you, miss,” the butler said as he placed the silver tray on the stand and then stepped back. “Will there be anything else?”“No,” her grumpy boss snapped. The moment the butler stepped into the hall, Trent slammed the door closed and glared at Carrie. “Do not countermand my orders to the staff. They’re impossible enough already.”She chuckled. “I’m sure they say the same about you.” The tantalizing aroma of her food caught her attention. Unable to resist, she peeked beneath the silver lid.Trent sat a foot away from her on the bed and sniffed at her plate. “I told the cook she’d be fired if you didn’t eat it.”“If you actually said that, you should go downstairs and apologize. You appear to have a wonderful cook and should value her.”He shrugged. “She’s okay. Not as good as the last one though.”Unwrapping her fork from a swaddling of fine linen, Carrie dug into the egg-white omelet. Her eyes rolled in ecstasy. “God, this is fabulous!”“Really?” He moved closer and stole her fork so he could try some.She expected him to smile at first taste. Instead, he became annoyed. “Come on! Your taste buds can’t be that jaded.”His eyes narrowed. “It’s very good. Far better than the crap she feeds me.”Carrie shook her head and swiped the fork. If the cook prepared Trent mediocre meals, she understood why. During her first six months at Lancaster Chairs, Trent had threatened her with unemployment on a daily basis and she’d hated it. She nearly grew to hate him, would have, except his remarks always lacked sincerity, as if he’d learned them rote.
Once she’d consumed a quarter of the omelet, she offered him the fork. He smiled and shook his head. “You finish it. The cook will serve me my gruel later. Probably spit in it for good measure.”
Author Bio:
Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.
Author LinksFOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT LIZA O'CONNOR
Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter  GoodReads

Don't forget to leave a comment and provide your email address for a chance to win one of the tour prizes.Want to increase your chances of winning a prize? Follow Liza's Craziest Blog Tour Everthrough all its stops.

...Sneak Peek Sunday...

It's that time again! Sneak Peek Sunday is upon us. Put on by the lovely Sara Walter Ellwood, this blog hop is set up to share six paragraph snippets of author's current works in progress.

The week I'll be sharing a sneak peek of Red Snow Bride, book two of The Dawson Brides series.

Jeremiah Dawson, small time rancher and full time werewolf, has advertised in the city papers for a proper wife and Lorelei might just be what he's looking for in a woman. The only problem is the scandal her last husband threw her family into. Desperate for an escape, she must decide to answer his advertisement or keep making her way in the underbelly of turn-of-the-century Boston. In this scene, she's on the cusp of that decision.



*********************************************
Boston had defeated me in two days. It had to be some sort of record. My fingers were clawed and stiff and didn’t want to move after two almost full days of backbreaking chicken plucking. I stank of dead animal and I’d never get all of the white feathers out of my hair. The piddly amount I’d been paid for all those tedious hours of work turned my stomach. At this rate, I’d be able to pay rent but only if I never ate again for the rest of my life. For the tenth time I unfolded the advertisement I kept safe in my pocket. Jeremiah Dawson did sound like a fine name. It rolled off of the tongue in an attractive way. Even if he was some horrid looking man, or dwarf, or cripple, who was I to be picky? I’d married a beautiful man with a heart of black. Maybe the other way would work in my favor this time around. And more importantly, I'd be far away from all of the horrid things people whispered about me as I walked by.I’d made the decision that day, as it became apparent the foreman was more interested in me than the other girls who sat around me. He’d whisper foul things into my ear as his rank breath brushed my face and lifted the dark tendrils of hair that had fallen into my face. The man gave me chills and not just because of his odor. It was because behind his emotionless gaze was something that terrified me. He was a man who’d do anything to get what he wanted. My rebuffs were only proving a delightful challenge for him --- a piece of red meat added to the hunt. Decidedly, I scribbled across the crude paper before I could change my mind.
Dearest Mr. Dawson,I write to inform you of my interest in an advertisement you placed in a paper some months ago. For reasons I can’t quite sort through right now, I've a mind to consider your offer. You've written of your want for a proper wife, and I assure you my high bred pedigree stretches for generations. As I’ve fallen on misfortune, I don’t have any dowry to offer or material possessions to give if that is what you are looking for, but I’ll be easily companionable and diligent in my wifely duties. I have to admit, as I would feel terrible for pursuing you under false pretense, that I have been a victim of a serious scandal here in Boston recently and won’t bring any prestige to your lineage. However, if you are willing to overlook all of that and would still consider me a candidate for your arrangement, please contact me in Boston.Yours,Lorelei McGregor
I scurried to the post office as fast as I could dodge the rank mud puddles in hopes of making it before the post man flipped the handwritten sign to ‘closed.’ Just in time, I swished in through the door, smearing muddy water over the wooden planks beneath my feet. “I need this mailed to Jeremiah Dawson of Colorado Springs, Colorado,” I said breathlessly.He took the letter from my outstretched hand and with a grumpy frown said, “It’ll go out with tomorrow’s post.”A sense of relief I didn’t quite understand flooded me as I left my letter there in the care of the post man. Maybe it was because it was out there in the universe now and out of my hands, or maybe because the stranger, Jeremiah’s, answer would be a chance to feel something other than rejection. Whatever it was, I sat in my tiny room and read his advertisement over again, and this time I felt a sense hopeful fear. My path in life had been altered by the cruelty of my husband, and now Mr. Dawson’s answer would be my destiny.*********************************************

Thanks so much for stopping by and giving the snippet of Red Snow Bride a read. To hop along to other authors sneak peeks, click here.

...Time is on My Side...

Hello, hello! I'm so excited to say I've finished my last novel in The Dawson Brides series. I was an emotion wreck with this series. I was laughing and crying as I typed away. I felt guilty over what I was doing to my characters and got chills for an entire day when I thought of a way to make it up to them in the end. I caught myself making the most ridiculous faces (mostly because my husband would look at me like I'd lost my everlovin' mind) during characters reactions like I was the one going through the emotion. These three novels turned me into a basket case for a month and a half (yes, I actually wrote all three of them in less than two months, insane. my hands will probably look like crab claws come morning)

The Dawson Brides: Check.
Red Snow Bride: Check.
Bride of the Gable: Check.

What's next for my little obsession? Pre-edits. I'm going to run them through the gauntlet and try to shop them to agents when they are all clean and sparkling. I'm in love with these characters but you can never tell how they will sit with readers, publishers, mother, husband (okay i do know the answer to this one because unless it involves a knife fight in the opening scene, it will provide a soothing soundtrack for him to fall asleep to. a reader, the man is not.)

But for now I'm looking forward to taking a break from writing for a little while. For the first time in a long time, I don't know what book I'm going to write next. I don't have the plot and all of the major players and scenes mapped out as I try furiously to finish my current work with all of those voices in my head.

I'm going to spend more time with my little famerly and eat and sleep again. I have lots of edits to do but I'm in between deadlines. Time is on my side, and it feels so right :)

...Another Book Born...

Hello, hello! Today I'm giving a little update on the happy chaos that has consumed my life lately. I've been writing like a maniac and completely lost in my newest book, Red Snow Bride, and last night, after eleven days of furious writing, I completely the first draft. Oh, how exciting writing that last line is! Now the first two books in The Dawson Brides series are completed and only one to go before I polish them to shining and send them out to agents.

Before I get to the next in the series, I'm diving into pre-edits for Silver Wolf Clan. I don't know if this is the same for other writers, but the official pre-edits are probably the hardest round of edits. The first round I ever did took me longer than it had taken me to write the book in the first place. This one shouldn't be as time consuming because Silver Wolf Clan is a novella, but still, I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time set aside to give it my full attention without a half finished novel in the back of my mind.

In addition to the go-ahead to start pre-edits, I will be working on the tag-line and blurb and for the most exciting part, Silver Wolf Clan was given a tentative release date:

May 5th, 2014
Writing has so many exciting parts to it, and one of them has to be getting a release date for one of your books. A date makes it real and gives you an idea of time frame. I imagine the season it will release in and holidays and birthdays near it. A solid date makes you sit up and realize it's really happening.

So, it's really happening! :) This is my life. I'm busy busy with writing and edits and that combined with me being a stay at home mommy to two amazing kiddos, well, I can't remember ever feeling so fulfilled. 

...life between stories...

My poor blog has been lonely and angry with my lack of attention/affection. Lately, I've been furiously writing on a new series called The Dawson Brides and it's left very little creative juices to update. Shame on me! I'm now finished with the first book of the series and half way through with the second, tentatively titled Lorelei's Surrender. I've been trying to use my break in editing to get as much done on this trilogy as I can.

So in the past couple of weeks, here's what's been going on.

1. My daughter graduated preschool and is officially a kindergartner! I'm still in shock that I have a school aged child. We're the first breeders out of our friends, so I feel like I'm pioneering my way through this crazy time in our lives right now, but I'm so proud of my girl I could explode. Just boom. Glitter shower.


(my loves at my daughter's pre-k graduation)

2. My boo and I celebrated 7 years married last week. (we've been together for 12 years! for any of you doing the math, we met right out of high school and just knew. Eighteen and on the cusp of young adulthood, we were babies but we knew we were it for each other!)
We spent the night in a hotel and got our movie fix in. Getting the whole movie theater experience is something we've always enjoyed, and after having babies, that is one of the first things that went flying right out the window. Now date nights are so meaningful because they are so few and far between. On our honeymoon, we ate at Ruth's Chris in Hawaii, and every year since, we've made a point to find a Ruth's Chris and eat our anniversary dinner there. This year was no different :)
(Ruth's Chris)
3. Summer is here and we have been spending as much time outside as possible. Right now there is a lot of this going on.
(gone fishin')
The six month countdown is on and I'm trying to learn as much as possible about what to expect when An Unwilling Husband releases in December. At the moment, though it is still early, I'm researching my options on blog tours to promote it when the time comes. I'm sure by my second (or sixth) book, I'll be a seasoned pro, but it's kind of exciting doing the research right now because everything is so new and exciting. My career is a blank page waiting to be written and pushed along the path the story wants to go.

We are puppy-sitting for my sister at the moment, so we've been spending every waking hour outside playing with little Oliver. Can someone tell me how i'm supposed to work with this cute little mug begging for snuggles?!!


So as you can read, life is going well over here in Shanleyland. I hope you guys are enjoying the warm weather as well. Have a wonderful weekend!