Hey folks! It’s another Cobblestone release day, and you guys are in for a treat this week! I’m trying to highlight the releases of new things over here, because I know you’re all as into reading this stuff as I am.

Anyway, they’ve got two dishes on the plate today, and they’re looking spicy. Bone Deep by Summer Alan must have the hottest cover ever! I love Summer’s stuff. She can turn a great story, and it’s always hot. Black Orchid by Diana Bold looks absolutely fascinating. Love that premise.

Anyway, if you’re done reading Meghan’s Submission (you have read it, haven’t you?), you really ought to check these ladies’ out.

So. Writing along, writing along. I’m not a huge drinker, and my tastes tend towards the simple when I do, like a pina colada or some rum and coke. Nothing exotic. And here we are, with my characters in a bar, and I need to use that time-honored drink: sex on the beach.

But I’ve never had one. I’ve never seen one. All I need’s a recipe and a picture, and I’m good to go for a description.

Yeah. About that.

The recipe was easy. Even Wikipedia has one. So I flip over to Google Image Search and type in “sex on the beach”. Now’d be the time I remember that I don’t have Safe Search enabled.

Aieeee! My eyes! My eyes! You can guess what happened. I got an eyeful of amateur porn pictures of people going at it on various beaches. Sometimes, my brain just disengages. For some reason I just didn’t equate that typing “sex on the beach” when, in my own head, I clearly meant the drink might net me something else. Oh boy.

Anyone else all thanked out? I sure am.

I’ve had a wonderful holiday, but I feel like I’ve been on the go since Wednesday night. I got up this morning, and the kids had gone back to school, the husband had gone to work, and it was…quiet. No one here but the cats and the hamster. I giggled. It was wonderful.

I’m looking forward to getting back to work. With everyone home and excited, I didn’t have much chance to get anything done. The wonderful thing about writing is that it’s something I love to do. I look forward to it. When I can’t do it, I’m not as happy as I could be. My ideas boil over. And I’ve set myself a mid-December deadline to finish this short story.

Wonderful weekend, wonderful time, but now, I’m looking forward to getting things back to normal. Til I have to put up the tree and get knitting done for Christmas and do my shopping and…

Cobblestone has a couple new releases coming out tomorrow, and here’s a look at one of them!

New Release ~ The Diamond Heartstone

Blurb:
Alycia’s always possessed an affinity for cats, big and small. But
when she’s kidnapped by a being more feline than human it turns from
an asset to a issue. A six-foot five sexy one.

Barrick never dreamed when he paid the best matchmaker in the galaxy
to find his mate she would choose one so… different. Alycia is a
headstrong, opinionated, melt in your mouth delicious distraction.
She’s nothing he wanted and everything he needs.

Excerpt:

She hadn’t been paying a lot of attention. Not until she heard the leaves crunching. The GPS hadn’t shown any cats nearby but the hair on the nape of her neck was standing on end. She could swear that there was one in the tall yellowed grass to her left. She didn’t chance a look over to make sure. If it was a male, he might take the direct eye contact as a form of aggression.

Her bike wasn’t that far away but, counting the time it was going to take to start the thing, she wouldn’t make it. But what was the other alternative? Stay here and be dinner? Not freaking likely.

Alycia took a breath, hoping to slow down her thundering heart. One. She darted a quick look over into the grass. It shifted. There was definitely something there. Two. She bent down towards the water again. Three. She pivoted and took off in the direction of her ATV.

She was almost there but something was right on her heels. She yanked the key from the lanyard around her neck. Jumping on the bike, she jammed the key into the switch and turned it on. The motor roaring to life didn’t drown out the sound of the tiger’s roar.

With a small squeeze of the handlebars, the bike jerked forward. She raised her head in time to see the tiger launch at her. Her hands instinctively flew up to protect her face. It hit her squarely in the chest, knocking her onto the ground. The air whooshed from her lungs and her head bounced on the ground.

Visit www.Cobblestone-Press.com to get the whole story.

http://www.leilabrown.com
http://leilabrown.blogspot.com

Released today by Cobblestone Press:

Meghan harbors a secret desire for submission, buried under a safe, placid lifestyle. When she finds a rose on the sidewalk, along with a note promising a night of elegant domination, her hidden longing will not let her leave it alone!

It leads her to a penthouse paradise, and a man that exceeds her wildest dreams. Faced with the handsome, commanding Spencer, will she give in to her fear, or follow her heart?

Read an excerpt!

You can get it now from Cobblestone Press!

This is my first release, and I’m very excited about it!

Also, make sure you check out Jade James’ Sahara’s Retaliation, released today from Cobblestone Press too! Her home page is here, and the book looks really hot!

Sometimes, you’re writing along, all innocent-like. You’ve got your story outlined, and it’s just telling itself. Halfway done, or thereabouts, and it’s looking like you can get this thing kicked out before all the holiday mess hits you…

…and then your Muse picks up a two-by-four and whacks you in the head.

Ouch. Thanks. So the outline, which had already had a chapter added to it, also got a bit of an overhaul in the last half today. A friend of mine was online, thank goodness, and let me throw plot at him until I saw what stuck. I think the story’s a whole lot better for the re-imagine of its climactic (haha) scenes, and the threads I’ll go back and weave in, but it sure does make the gears grind as I shift gears!

It did, however, give me a name. I believe I’ll call it Yesterday’s Sins.

My grandfather died in WWII. My father-in-law served for a long time in the Army. To them, and to the other veterans and servicemen who’ve sacrificed lives, time, and heart for our country, I say:

Thank you!

Everyone loves an alpha male.

And in this latest piece…I get to write a duel between two of them. The word processor is practically dripping testosterone. I’m cackling with glee.

There are days when I’m pretty sure I have the best job in the whole world.

I did almost five thousand words yesterday on my current project. Go me!

I set a goal of fifteen-hundred words per day. It’s kind of a low goal, but it gives me something to shoot for and exceed, as well as permission to feel like I got something done on slow days. Yesterday I sat down, wrote til I had to help the kids, wrote more til I had to stop for dinner, wrote until an online meeting I had to go to, and then wrote more.

I finally looked up when my husband plugged my ears and said, “You cannot hear your Muse now. We have to go to bed.” Oh. Yeah. That bed thing.

Now, if only the story would present me with a title!

Writing when you have two kids is sometimes a real pain in the keister.

It always feels like I’ve just really hit my stride by the time my kids come home from school. Oh, sure, I’ve been writing for hours by that point, but that’s when I really seem to hit the groove. They come bounding in, all talk about their day and asking for a snack, and while I’m glad to see them, I can’t help but think, Couldn’t I just have another hour? Please?

Every day, though, I run my head against the same wall. They get a snack. I get my lunch. They sit down to do their homework, and the place is quiet. I sit down, I get a couple paragraphs written, I’m just finding that stride…

…and someone needs me to check their math. So I break off the story and go through multiplication tables. Then I go back to it, and I’m just finding it again…

…and someone needs me to check their English. Then I need to go over directions for a worksheet. Then I have to check it. Then I have to shoo them off to do chores. By the time they’re ready to go entertain themselves and each other, I’ve ripped out my hair and wondered, Why don’t I just wait til they’re done? Why do I do this to myself every day? Pavlov must be rolling in his grave.

Yesterday, my daughter hauled out her pogo stick and asked if she could take the beginner’s stand off it, and do it for real. I said, “Well, Daddy or I need to be out there when you do that.” She said, “But Mommy…you’re always writing.”

I hit “save”, I got up, and I went outside with her. Sometimes, the interruption is more important.