Archive for category five things

five things on friday

Jun 14

Posted by kate in across the east river bridge, five things, save the date, What There Is | No Comments

This is a drowsy five things. I’m really tired. Zzz. But here’s what happened this week:

1. Thanks to everyone who bought and read Save the Date! It got all the way up to #2 on the All Romance eBooks bestseller list and has been on the Amazon top 100 for Gay Romance for the last week and a half or so, which I appreciate. I hope you all are liking the book!

BMMmzbmCUAA7N6N.jpg_large2. What There Is has a gorgeous cover done by L.C. Chase. Look for that (I think) next month. I just finished first edits on Monday. It’s a short (about 15K words) fluffy, sweet story, mostly about a guy who can’t play baseball anymore.

3. Ripped from the headlines: I don’t know if I’ve mentioned here before, but one of my childhood best friends is currently DOMA exiled (he spent some time post-college gallivanting around Europe and fell in love with a Czech man; they currently live together in a large European city because the husband couldn’t get a visa to stay in the US). He’s been on my mind as the new immigration bill gets debated; I miss him a lot but totally get why he doesn’t want to live in the States.

4. I’m apparently procrastinating from my actual deadline by writing a new story, a contemporary that is super angsty! But my other WIP is a historical, which I am doggedly pursuing despite the fact that everyone is telling me the historical is dead. Which I suppose brings to mind the age-old problem of writing whatever the hell you want without regard for how much money you’ll make (which is generally how I try to operate, although the royalty checks are NICE, don’t get me wrong) and trying to have realistic expectations versus doing what the market demands. I can tell you I do a lot better with contemporaries than paranormals, but I’m not really known as a paranormal author, and I feel like Across the East River Bridge and Show and Tell are light in the paranormal elements. (AERB remains one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, though.) I dunno. I love historicals; you may have gleaned from reading AERB that I’m also a huge history nerd, so I suppose those go hand-in-hand.

5. I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction lately. Currently I’m wending my way through a history of Regency England (Our Tempestuous Day) and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach, both of which are really enjoyable in different ways.

five things on friday: BEA and Save the Date

Jun 7

Posted by kate in conventions, five things, interviews, promo events, save the date, What There Is | 2 Comments

Weekly wrap-up!

1. Save the Date came out on Tuesday! It is now available at most ebook retailers. *dances*

2. It’s Kate McMurray Week at the Armchair Reader. Cole has bravely embarked on the task of reading my entire backlist. We also did an interview that was posted yesterday. Follow the link to all of the posts and leave a comment on the interview to win a copy of the book.

3. Other places I have been this week:

• I wrote a post for the All Romance eBooks cafe blog for Pride Month
• I guest-posted at Charlie Cochet’s Purple Rose Tea House.
• Today I’m at Flirty Author Bitches.

*The last two are stops on the Big Gay Wedding tour. Leave a comment at either to be entered to win a copy of Save the Date.

4. I missed posting last Friday because I was at Book Expo America. It was an interesting experience. Plenty of people have wrapped it up better than me, but I can tell you what I did there, which was a) sweat a lot because, as a friend of mine said, it was hot as balls outside; b) gave away a ton of books at the Dreamspinner booth; c) got some really amazing books and ARCs from around the exhibition hall; d) made some good editorial contacts; e) hung out with some awesome people; f) fangirled on some authors; g) saw celebrities, including Chelsea Handler, Julianne Moore, and Grumpy Cat.

5. I’m currently working on edits for What There Is, a short novella coming out this summer. It started out as a baseball story, but it ended up being about a former baseball player who wants to find something else to do with his life. It’s been a little bit of a struggle because I’ve been out for the count with a nasty cold most of the week, but I’m feeling much better today so I can concentrate on these edits. I saw a cover mock up yesterday and it’s gorgeous.

And that’s a wrap for this week. See you next week!

five things on friday: lots of news!

May 24

Posted by kate in conventions, five things, new york, rainbow romance writers, the stars that tremble | No Comments

I saw these gorgeous pink flowers yesterday. Hooray spring!

I saw these gorgeous pink flowers yesterday. Hooray spring!

Lots of things to report in the weekly wrap-up post!

1. I’m trying to get the word out that there’s still time to register for the GayRomLit Writers Workshop if you have not done so yet, but you only have until July 15th. It takes place the Wednesday before GRL and is a separate event, so make sure you register if you want to go. If you need an extra incentive, the preliminary schedule has been posted to the GRL website so you can get an idea for what you’re in for. I think this is a fantastic lineup and I’m really psyched for it. There’s something here for everyone, too, from the aspiring to the established author.

2. Ink is drying on the contract for my next novel, the book I’ve mentioned before that is a romance between an opera singer and construction worker called The Stars that Tremble. It’ll be out in the fall (hopefully in time for GRL *fingers crossed*).

3. Book Expo America is next week. I’ll be there on Thursday and Friday—if you will be there also, I want to know! Maybe we can wave at each other across the vast expanse of the exhibition hall!

4. The TV show White Collar has been filming in my neighborhood, much to the consternation of anyone who needs to navigate 8th Avenue in Brooklyn because they keep closing off streets, but I don’t even care because I walked past Matt Bomer on my evening commute Thursday, and that, my friends, made my week. Dear Lord, that is a beautiful man. (I was too awestruck to get a photo. Next time!)

5. You may have heard about the wave of anti-gay violence in New York City. Monday night, I was in the West Village for a book club meeting, and I saw part of the neighborhood rally against the violence. I’m appalled by these crimes—I think there have been 7 incidents just this month, including one man who was shot and killed—but it’s amazing to see people in Chelsea and the West Village come together. Still, it’s alarming; the crimes are seemingly random and unconnected, maybe not a reaction to anything specific so much as a coincidence. I’ve lived in New York in an era when it is one of the safest large cities in the country, and it’s so easy to forget that it’s still a city where crime and violence are not exactly anathema. Although, I also read an articule today that argued that it’s not so much an increase in anti-gay crime in the city as it is an increase in reporting.

BONUS! If you like Regency romances, I just read A Lady Awakened by Cecelia Grant and I loved it so, so much. (It’s not m/m, no, but it’s such a great book.) It’s so refreshingly different from every Regency you’ve read before, with a cold heroine who must be thawed and a flawed hero who has to grow up, and together they fumble their way through their specific purposes—hers to keep her estate, his to learn how to manage his land—and end up together, and it’s fantastic.

five things on friday are fabulous

May 17

Posted by kate in five things, new york, WIP | No Comments

This week really sped by. It’s already Friday! So, weekly wrap-up!

1. What I’m up to: I’m finishing up a historical baseball story. It’s not officially contracted yet, but here’s the low down: it’s about a dandy sports reporter who is taken with a media-shy rookie player for the NY Giants in 1927 when Babe Ruth and the Yankees are dominating the headlines. (Homosexuality, while not celebrated, was also not condemned in the same way in 1927 that it was after World War II. So my sports reporter is not “out” in the contemporary sense of the word, but everyone kind of knows.) I’m hoping to polish up the ending this weekend.

2. I’m also gearing up to do a little road show for Save the Date, my novella out June 4. It’s part of a Loose Id promotion called “I Do… Unless I Don’t” so I have teamed up with a few of the other authors who wrote gay stories (Dev Bentham, J.A. Rock, Cassandra Gold, and Dominique Frost) for a Big Gay Wedding blog tour. I’ll post dates for that soon, so you can follow along at home.

3. I’m also working on the GayRomLit Writers Workshop now, in hip-deep as it were. We’re in the process of finalizing the schedule, and let me tell you, we have a FANTASTIC lineup of workshops and speakers. So if you were hedging on whether to go, let me tell you: if you are a writer, you should go.

4. Back in New York: I met a friend for dinner in Chelsea last night. We ate at a Thai place and sat next to this very affectionate, handsy gay couple, one of whom didn’t speak English that well, so watching him try to get the waitress to explain what he was eating was kind of adorable. He kept calling the triangular cracker things that came with the tuna tartar “tacos.”

Later, we went down Eighth Avenue to a little bakery for dessert, and while we were chatting over cookies, this big protest march went down the street. They were chanting something like, “These are OUR streets!” One of them ran inside and handed the guy at the counter a flyer. The guy explained that a gay couple had been really brutally beaten after a Knicks game recently. (When I went home and Googled the incident, it turned out that there have actually been THREE really awful gay bashings recently, two near Penn Station and a third in front of a gay bar on Christopher Street. Hence the take-back-the-streets march.) I’m horrified by the gay bashing news; I should probably not be surprised that something like this can happen in New York City, but I am. Silver lining: The tail end of the protest march chanted one of the best slogans I’ve ever heard: “We’re here! We’re queer! We’re fabulous! Don’t fuck with us!” And good on Chelsea residents for showing solidarity that way.

5. I’m allergic to whatever is blooming right now, and my eyes are so watery, I’m worried someone is going to ask what’s wrong, and then I’ll have to come up with some story about how wisteria reminds me of a lost love and I just can’t help but weeping, except actually, there is just not enough Claritin in the world to ease my suffering. Which is a shame, because the weather has been pretty spectacular this week, a welcome respite to the very long winter we had (plus the snow in KC!).

I exaggerate. It’s actually not that bad, save for the low-grade sinus headache I’ve had since Saturday and the fact that the allergy meds are making me kind of groggy, slowing down my writing progress somewhat. Welcome summer, I guess.

five things about RT

May 10

Posted by kate in conventions, five things | No Comments

Me at the RT Giant Book Fair (photo by Elizabeth North)

Me at the RT Giant Book Fair (photo by Elizabeth North)

Since I’m still buzzing from RT, I thought for my weekly wrap-up post this week, I’d just talk about 5 random things I saw/did at the convention. May this serve as your enticement to attend next year.

1. Heidi Cullinan dressed as Mitch from Special Delivery and was a QUITE CONVINCING dude. Like, I knew in advance that she was going to do the drag, and then I went to the Romance Pride party, where there was this rando standing outside the door, and it took me a minute or two to realize it was Heidi. (She posted some photos.)

2. So many books. SO MANY BOOKS. I won a bag of books at Cinema Craptastique my first night there and only kept the books from it I thought I’d actually read, but just by virtue of being at the con, 10 books (excluding my own books) made their way into my luggage, and I shipped another 6–8. (The box of stuff I shipped home arrived yesterday, but I’m kind of afraid to open it.) I did not purchase a single book, it should be noted.

3. This year’s RT featured the first ever m/m panel, although frankly, I am all for the integration of all romance, so I kind of hope it’s the last m/m panel. I’d like to see gay romance authors on many kinds of panels next year. (Here’s why: when Tara Lain asked the audience at the m/m panel who had not read an m/m novel, only maybe 2 people raised their hands, so I think the panel was mostly preaching to the choir. But we want new readers, no?)

I mean, sure, at the Giant Book Fair on Saturday, I did get the stink-eye from one reader who asked what I wrote, but everyone else was at least open to hearing about my books. There was a ton of enthusiasm for gay romance, actually, particularly at the book fairs. I sold a lot of books at the Thursday ebook expo (more than I was expecting) almost entirely based on the covers snagging people’s attention as they walked by, and some of my books have unambiguously male/male covers.

There was a great group of gay romance writers who did attend, so we made a good showing. There were at least 15 gay romance writers there that I can think of off the top of my head, probably more like 20.

And authors, don’t underestimate the power of just being friendly and respectful at a con. It goes a long way. I met some really cool people there and also got to meet some people I’ve only corresponded with online, and that was really fun.

4. I rode the elevators with some very famous authors, which was kind of surreal. I had been warned that whole book deals go down in the elevators. Cherry Adair complimented my shoes when we wound up in an elevator together, and that was awesome. I was staying on the 25th floor, so all journeys to my room were long and involved a lot of elevator-related shenanigans (I joked on Twitter that the elevators deserved their own Twitter account based on how quirky they were). At a place where romance authors are treated like rock stars (AS THEY SHOULD BE) sometimes, you wind up sitting in the lobby next to EL James or Jude Devereaux and sometimes you get so starstruck you start shaking as you meet one of your idols (not that this happened to me *shifty eyes*).

I mean, just as a longtime romance reader, RT was great. Like Romance Disney Land.

5. I didn’t go to as many panels as I thought I would—there was so much on my agenda that I just didn’t make it to—but the most informative panel I went to was on diversity in romance, led by Suleikha Snyder, Jeannie Lin, Shawtelle Madison, and Mina Khan. A lively discussion with the audience ensued in which we talked about how people of color are (under)represented in romance and how authors can get it right. The gist was to write characters first.

So, I had a good time at RT. Can you tell?

—

On the flight home, I read an entire Sabrina Jeffries novel (one that I got in one of the, like, 5 gift bags I was handed throughout the week) that I enjoyed. Fluffy Regency romances are my crack, basically. I love them. I read them when I’m feeling blue. I tend to glom on them, reading 5 or 6 in a row. I want to write a gay Regency one of these days.

I had been sort of wondering about the state of historical romance, since I’ve seen fewer of them reviewed lately (but no shortage of them published, it seems) and I got the impression at the Giant Book Fair at RT that the contemporary erotic romance authors (Sylvia Day, for example) were much bigger draws than the five big-name historical writers who were sitting across the aisle from me (Jeffries included). Then there was that post on Dear Author earlier this week, calling for the whole sub-genre to die. To which I said, “No! You will have to take my Regencies from my cold, dead hands!” (I finished the new Sarah MacLean book last night, and it was GOOD.) But I love historicals. I’d love to see more with different settings and different kinds of characters. (I’m working on a gay historical right now, in fact!) I get the point about there being kind of a sameyness to the books coming out now, but I think you could say that about any sub-genre. (Do we REALLY need more post-apocalyptic YA?)

Look, read what you want. If you don’t like Regencies, that’s fine, as long as there are plenty for me to read. And I got a bunch from RT, so neener.

Next up on my agenda: BEA!

five things: RT preview

Apr 26

Posted by kate in conventions, five things, vanity, WIP | No Comments

Weekly wrap-up!

1. RT is next week! I’m excited and also a little nervous and there’s still a lot to do to get ready! If you will also be there, I should be easily locatable if you want to say hi. Here’s where I will be for sure:

• Cinema Craptastique Tuesday night: We’re watching a movie I’ve never seen called The Covenant, which I’m told is pretty worthless except for the abundance of homoeroticism and pretty boys. A bunch of authors will be there tweeting about the movie; even if you are not there, you can follow along with the Twitter hashtag #RTmovieslam.

• I’m doing both signing events:
a. Thursday eBook Expo: I got some little cards made up with a QR code that goes to my author page at All Romance eBooks and I’ll have some paper books for sale as well. Even if you won’t be there, I believe the ARe promotions will be available to everyone, so keep an eye on the site. I will try to remember to Tweet about that.
b. Giant Book Fair: I got a spot at the last minute, so I will try not to get lost among the 400-some other authors. :) I’ll have books for sale.

• I’ll be at the Romance Pride party with bells on.

• I’m doing the FAN-tastic author thingie Saturday. I’m not totally sure what that entails, but there will be prizes and giveaways. I’m in the 7:15 session.

• Confidential to RRW members: we’re meeting Wednesday night and details are on the chapter website.

I also made a list of all the workshops and spotlights and things I want to attend. There’s one on m/m I think on Friday. So I think it will be good.

I’ll try to remember to Tweet my whereabouts, although no promises because I tend to space out about Twitter being a thing at conventions. If you aren’t already following me, my Twitter handle is @katemcmwriter.

2. I am OBSESSING about what to wear. Like, I think for the sake of not carrying seventeen bags to Kansas City, I’m going to have to start narrowing down my costume changes. And shoes, I own so many pairs of shoes. I love excuses to dress up, I’ll be honest. I’m not so much for costumes, so I probably won’t be looking too whacky, but I do love fashion, and, I mean, how many excuses will I have to wear my brand new electric blue Steve Madden pumps?

Who's a pretty, pretty princess?

Who’s a pretty, pretty princess?

3. What else is going on? Well, I bought a new sofa on Sunday, which is probably only significant to me, but it was a Big Deal because I finally got to replace this old, ugly, hand-me-down futon in my living room. I splurged on some new throw pillows, too, which the cat immediately took advantage of. I call this her pretty princess pillow.

4. I’ve been working all week on a historical baseball story that will hopefully see the light of day this fall. If all goes to plan, I will finish the first draft of that this weekend.

5. I’m reading an Amish romance for my romance book club, which could be an interesting experience, although I may have to find the dirtiest, raunchiest book I can to counterbalance all this sweetness. I’ve never read an Amish romance before, so I’m looking forward to the book club discussion. I feel like it’s part of my romance education.

five things stand with boston

Apr 19

Posted by kate in conventions, five things, new york, save the date, What There Is | No Comments

Here’s my weekly wrap-up post for what ended up being a WEEK.

1. Storytime! When I was 19, my boyfriend at the time took me to Boston for New Years. He grew up in the Boston suburbs—though most of his family was from the city proper and had the accents to prove it—so he knew a lot of people in the area and we met up with a group of his friends. Boston does a First Night celebration with short concerts and comedy shows and that kind of thing all over the city in various venues. It gets crowded, so I think we spent more of that night waiting on line to get into theaters than we did actually watching entertainment. This was long enough ago that my memory is a little fuzzy, but I do remember running across Boston Common in the cold and getting lost down odd side streets trying to find a theater playing some jazz and stumbling into a diner late because we were cold and hungry. Toward the end of the night, we found a good spot to watch the fireworks, and at midnight, my boyfriend kissed me and told me he loved me, and that was the first time anyone had kissed me at midnight on New Years and really meant it.

I lived in Massachusetts for a while, but I’m a New Yorker at heart, and we New Yorkers derive a fair amount of pleasure from ragging on Boston. But when I heard the news on Monday about the bombing, one of the first things I remembered was that First Night in Boston and how magical it was. I’ve spent a lot of time in Boston over the years and that city holds a lot of great memories for me. I watched a lot of news coverage Monday night and couldn’t stop thinking about how things would change for Boston now, how the city was different, how this memory would now be embedded in one of my favorite Boston neighborhoods.

The last third of my upcoming novella Save the Date actually takes place in Boston.

Because, on that night when I was 19, what I didn’t know was that this man and I would spend the next decade either together or negotiating how to be together until we reached a crossroads and finally ended it. I didn’t know that, in the fall of 2012, I’d be getting an invitation to his wedding to another woman. I didn’t know a joke I made about that on a thing called Twitter would turn into this really silly novella about a guy whose ex gets married in Boston. All I knew that night when we kissed at midnight under the fireworks was that we were young and in love and had a whole future ahead of us. Even if the relationship didn’t work out, it’s still a fond memory.

So, I’m thinking about donating some of the proceeds from the sale of Save the Date to One Fund Boston or the Red Cross or something. I feel like that’s really the least I can do for a city that gave me a lot.

2. The bad news has kind of overshadowed the good, which was that I had a blast last weekend at the Rainbow Book Fair in New York. Heidi Cullinan and Ethan Day flew out for it, and we had locals Damon Suede and Tere Michaels at the table, too, and they are all great and I enjoyed myself immensely. The change in venue from last year didn’t seem to slow down traffic much. Well, it felt a little roomier than in past years to me, but people kept pointing out that the room was about the same size, so maybe I’m crazy. But that was a good day.

3. Save the Date second edits went back to my Loose Id editor last night. The pub date for that is June 4th! Also, I posted what I now see is an awkwardly-worded blurb for my next story after that, a short novella called What There Is, to my Upcoming page. A blurb for Save the Date is there, too. There will be updated blurbs and covers and things as I get them.

4. On Tuesday, I had dinner with a friend in the West Village. We ate at a place on Bleecker that serves a few dozen varieties of risotto, then we visited a new bakery that specializes in macarons (we had to check this place out… for science), and then on the walk back to the subway, we passed a little shop that only serves popsicles. I should open a cafe that only serves one thing. Ideas? Maybe a bakery that only makes whoopie pies?

5. Those of you who are attending GayRomLit may be delighted to know that there are still spots left in the writers workshop, which yours truly is now helping to coordinate in my capacity as VP of Rainbow Romance Writers. It’s shaping up to be a pretty cool event. A schedule will be posted to the website once we’ve confirmed and finalized everything.

So that’s all the news this week. Let’s hope next week is a lot less terrible.

five things: stop worrying people will think you’re crazy

Apr 12

Posted by kate in conventions, five things | No Comments

Weekly wrap-up!

1. Rainbow Book Fair tomorrow! (Holiday Inn Midtown on W. 57th Street, noon to 6pm!) I will be there with bells on. I should be at the Rainbow Romance Writers table most of the day.

2. Would you like to win a copy of Show and Tell? Of course you would. You can do so over at Elisa’s blog.

She looks all innocent, but is actually eeeevil.

She looks all innocent, but is actually eeeevil.

3. My cat caught another mouse yesterday morning and thought it might be a good idea to bring it to me while I lounged in bed. I disagreed with her, yelled, “NO NO NO NO!!” and then she dropped the mouse and it ran under my bed. Then the cat caught it again, again tried to bring it up to me in bed, again prompted me to scream a lot. (My roommate later told me that she heard me screaming, but said, “I just thought the cat was throwing up on your rug again.” So… yeah. The joys of cat ownership.) The mouse got away a second time. I have no idea where it got to. (Out of my bedroom, I hope.) The cat seems to be catching them in the pantry. (We store pots and pans in the pantry, not food, so I don’t know what the appeal to living there would be for a mouse, and yet.) I barricaded the pantry (well, I MacGuyvered a way to lock it closed so the cat can’t get back into it to terrorize more mice) so I hope this stops soon, but I’m going to be having nightmares about tiny mice crawling over me in my sleep for a while, so thanks, cat.

4. I’ve been reading The Artist’s Way, and there’s a bit toward the beginning in which Julia Cameron explains things we can do to stop getting in our own way creatively. One of the things she says is, “Stop worrying people will think you’re crazy.” And I thought, “Oh, man, yeah, that’s exactly it!” How often do we inhibit ourselves out of worry someone will think we’re nuts? I don’t know about you, but I do this kind of a lot. So, I’ve decided, my new mantra is Stop worrying people will think you’re crazy. I wrote it in all caps on the whiteboard over my desk. So look for more crazy in the future, I guess? (Actually, I’m mostly applying this to my self-esteem. Stop worrying people will judge me for writing romance, stop worrying people will judge me for writing m/m, stop worrying people will judge me for whatever. I’ll just own it and do what I want. Or something.)

5. I read the new Ty and Zane book this week. The ending, OMG. I’m hopping up and down for the next one. Anyone read anything good this week?

five things on friday: tuck it away

Apr 5

Posted by kate in five things, What There Is | No Comments

Weekly wrap up…

1. Shiny New Book! I signed a contract yesterday for a short novella due out sometime this summer called “What There Is.” I’ll update the Upcoming page accordingly sometime this weekend, but sneaky sneak preview: The story is about an ex-professional baseball player who can’t play anymore due to injury. He moves into an apartment with a nerdy, socially awkward roommate. There are hijinks.

2. The Rainbow Book Fair is next Saturday in NYC. I’ll be there with a bunch of other m/m writers. Stop by if you’re in the area!

3. Any RuPaul’s Drag Race fans here? On Saturday, I went to a live show in New York that featured 6 queens from seasons current and past. (Pandora Boxx, Mimi Imfurst, and Carmen Carrera representing the past, Alaska Thunderfuck, Ivy Winters, and Jinkx Monsoon represent the current.) Michelle Visage hosted the event, and each queen did a couple of numbers. Pandora did a bit of stand-up in which somehow she randomly picked me out of the audience to make fun of, and that was a little surreal. And I have to say, I am now totally Team Jinkx this season; she really blew me away at the live show. (She did three numbers: first, she came out as Little Edie and sang (sang, not lip-synced!) “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis; then she sang “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd but changed the words to be about gay archetypes—”Try a little twink” etc.—and tossed cupcakes at the audience; and she wrapped up by singing a duet of the title song from Cabaret with Alaska.) The show was super fun, the audience was really lively, and I had a blast. Although, we had standing tickets, and this was how I learned that I am too old to go to concerts where I have to stand for 3 hours.

4. Speaking of RuPaul, this song came up on shuffle on my iPod this morning, and so it is the official song of the day:

5. Baseball season started Monday!!!!!!

five things: Friday at Last

Mar 29

Posted by kate in books, five things, save the date, the stars that tremble, WIP | 2 Comments

Weekly wrap-up:

1. Yup, I read Lover at Last. I liked it on the whole, but had some very mixed feelings. I posted a wordy review on Goodreads if you want my opinion.

I have probably a stand-alone post about the increase in m/m stories infiltrating the mainstream romance market, but not the time to write it right now. Generally, though, I find this really exciting, and you know, if fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series are like, “Hey, that was pretty hot!” well, I have some recommendations.

Speaking of series, I now must await the next Cut and Run book, although maybe I’ll take the time to savor that one instead of trying to read it all over two days when I really should have been doing other things.

Hi, yes, I did go to some Harry Potter midnight release parties back before those suckers could be delivered magically to my Kindle.

2. I want to write a series. Maybe I will!

The thing with a series is that I think certain sub-genres tend to work better. Paranormal seems particularly well-suited to series books. So does suspense (especially law enforcement and military stories). I had a crazy idea last fall for a paranormal series about supernatural crime fighters that’s pretty far outside of my wheelhouse but totally the sort of thing I would read. Maybe some day. (I wrote an outline for the series, so this is a thing I may revisit next year.)

Or I could try to write a contemporary series. Do people like contemporary series’ or do you need more bells and whistles to sustain your interest? Anyone have good examples of contemporary series’?

3. Writing updates: Edits are currently going for Save the Date, my romantic comedy novella coming out in June. I finished a second draft of The Stars that Tremble before I took my Lover at Last break. So, Draft #3 ahoy!

4. Baseball season starts next week! My fantasy league did its draft on Wednesday and I have a pretty good lineup, I think, except half of these guys are starting out the season injured. Womp womp. I lucked into my #1 draft pick for hitters (Robinson Cano) and my baseball boyfriend (Joe Mauer… he’s so dreamy) is on the team, too, but didn’t do so well with pitchers, so we’ll see how that shakes out.

5. As a parting gift, relive my trauma with me: I was innocently reading on my sofa last night when my cat trotted in with something in her mouth. At first I thought it was one of her little toy mice, but then I realized that it was a for-real, actual mouse. My cat then proudly hopped up on the sofa and dropped the mouse in my lap, at which time I promptly got up, screamed a whole lot, and hopped up and down. No idea where the mouse went. I hope it crawled back into the wall and will tell all its mousey friends what happens to mice that wander into my apartment.

In the seven years I’ve been in this apartment, I’ve never seen any pests before. Good to know the cat will catch mice. I don’t think she understands they aren’t toys, though.

So that was my week. How was yours?