Updates on What I’m Doing
Books in the Marriage by Obligation Series:
more to come
It’s due out October 17. I’ll do the official blog post with the description and links at that time, but if you would like to reserve your copy now, I do have a link to a page on this blog where you can do so.
I am glad I didn’t give up writing on this book. I almost did because the burnout was so bad, as most of you know. I am very happy with the way this book turned out. In fact, I am very happy with everything I’m currently writing, too. It’s like I have a new well of creativity to draw from. I’m excited to write again, and I hate days when I can’t get to the computer. It feels good. I haven’t felt this way since 2015.
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I believe I am not over the halfway point of The Wilderness Bride
This is going to be one of my favorites. It has a lot of tear-jerk moments similar to Eye of the Beholder and His Redeeming Bride. I hesitated to tackle an issue like a mother who can’t keep her baby and therefore wants to commit suicide (only she’s too afraid to go through with it), but it’s turning out to be a story that has been extremely satisfying to write. This needed to be a romance. The heroine needs to be loved by someone (who will be our hero) and to eventually have a child she can keep. Only a romance will guarantee that kind of turnout. I figure I haven’t spoiled anything because, as romance readers, we know there is the happy ending. We know the hero and heroine end up together. Given her pain, she needs a baby. So just know going in that things will work out for her.
I don’t have a title or cover for Book 2 yet, but I have the plot. More on that in future posts.
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Yes, I changed the cover again.
I think I’ve said this before about the covers I’ve done on this book, but I really think this one is going to stick. (We can only hope, right?) 
So far there are two books in the Love Under Desert Skies Series:
I believe I am approaching the halfway point. Our characters are still tracking down two dangerous bandits, and our heroine is starting to figure out which of the two men she prefers. I can’t say too much because that would spoil things. At the moment, these characters have stopped in the last town they’ll see for some time, so they are having a quiet moment (so to speak) before they enter the desert where I expect things to get really fun. I’m going to introduce a new character who will have a main role in Book 3 (which I don’t have a title for yet), I will separate out some of these characters after a shootout with those dangerous bandits, and I’m going to do my best to bring in a scorpion. After putting one into Tagalong Bride, I thought it would be fun to have another one show up in this book. If I remember, I’ll put one in Book 3, too. Sometimes it’s fun to have a running gag in a series.
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This one is off to a good start
This is Book 6 in the Marriage by Obligation Series. It follows Anyone But the Marquess.
I can tell this is going to be a fun book to write. I am setting things up right now for the “big reveal” moment, but I can’t have the big reveal until the time is right. So here’s the setup:
Adam (Lord Dayton) makes his living two ways: he gets hired to play a role, such as disguising himself as a servant in a household to track down a thief among a gentleman’s household staff, and he dons another disguise as actor Jefferson Crowdy. In this case, we are interested in him as the actor.
Miss Emma Ludlow has dreams of being a playwright but knows a lady won’t reach success like a gentleman would. Her brother, Percy Ludlow, pretends to be the one writing her plays.
Before the two meet, Adam reads a script from “Percy Ludlow” and thinks it’s too juvenile to recommend to the theatre, so he refuses to endorse it. Word gets back to Emma that Jefferson Crowdy rejected her play. At first, she’s depressed. Then she gets angry at Jefferson.
Meanwhile, we have a matchmaking friend who arranges for Emma and Adam to meet. Adam thinks he’s heard the name “Ludlow” before, but he can’t imagine where. (It’s funnier this way for the sake of what follows in later chapters.) Anyway, Emma and Adam hit it off and are in love. They have to be in love at this point, or else when the big reveal happens, it won’t have the same impact.
I’m only at Chapter Four, so there’s a lot more to do. Believe me, Emma is not going to be happy when she finds out Adam is really Jefferson. Sparks are going to fly. 
