My Mind : What a Twisted Place to Live

I always wanted to write stories that made the reader laugh 'til they cried. So much for that. Instead I write stories that tend to make the reader cry 'til they sigh. Go figure.

The first romance I wrote from beginning to end--there were many that were started and never finished--was steeped in inner turmoil, angst, and drama. It was titled Lord Fenton's Ward and involved amnesia, suicide, murder, and intrigue. That manuscript was put in the "vault" and I haven't looked at it since.

I tried again.

The next story, actually connected to the first, was titled Lord Stafford's Love. It still wasn't funny, by any means. The hero was a little more amusing. He was not a tortured hero and had an interesting sense of humor. That was the only thing that saved it from being completely boring and a little morbid. It, too, was "vaulted."

I gave up on that series and took several months off to reflect. I reasoned that if inner turmoil was what I needed to explore, that was what I would write.

I then wrote a Regency that involved, again, murder and a hero, tortured by guilt, dubbed the Devil. The heroine was just as tortured and wanted desperately to kill the hero. There was also a smattering of insanity and attempted murder--of more than one person by more than one person. I didn't actually "vault" this story but I did decide to rewrite it recently. It started out too boring with too much explanation of the heroine's roots. I also noticed the shocking resemblance between this heroine and Raven in Spellbound. Oops. Oh, the title: The Devil's Destiny. Yup, her name is Destiny.

Next attempt: Sweet Serenity. This one may actually end up published eventually. I need some more opinions on it first. Meanwhile, it involves a quirky heroine, the daughter of a country vicar. She has the deplorable habit of trying to "fix" everyone. The hero is tortured, believed to have raped a young woman about a decade before the story opens. Of course, our quirky heroine must try to mend the rift between him and his dying father. She is levelheaded but stubborn and fully believes that she knows what is best. He is typically male.

I then read a book that made me so angry that I came up with Angel, my yet-to-be-released Regency about an emotionally disturbed young woman with horrible secrets. There I go into the dark and morbid again. This book needed a bit of a rewrite; it was suggested that I gave too much of the story away at the beginning.

From there, I wrote 

1. Betrayal--currently available for purchase (murder, rape, insanity, bitterness, betrayal)
   
2. Deception--almost ready to publish (murder, kidnapping, illegitimacy, deception)
   
3. Heartless--available (murder, marriage...anti-hero)
   
4. Spellbound--available (guilt, self-doubt, rape, attempted murder, insanity)
   
5. Misunderstood--underwent a name change and became Retribution which is now being rewritten (the hero is an ex-con, the heroine is a prostitute, and that's all I'm saying)
   
6. Redemption--available (guilt and general human error)
   
7. Intrigue--being edited (murder, treason, intrigue)
   
8. Fascination--awaiting a satisfying conclusion (murder, betrayal, insanity)
   

Why do I focus on so much negativity? 

There is always a silver lining. Some are just harder to find than others.

Paperback Update

I am in the process of updating my currently published titles. Stupid? Maybe. Pointless? Hardly. Do I have control issues? Most definitely!

The Kindle versions are done. The regular eBook versions are done. Now, I'm updating the paperbacks, which takes longer, as I have to approve the new copies. Look for a title or two to be down for a week or more at one time.

As of posting this message, Heartless and Spellbound are taking a breather. Betrayal is finished. The new copy is what is now available on CreateSpace and Amazon, despite appearances to the contrary. I expect my proof copy of Spellbound to arrive any day, at which point it will be approved--fingers crossed--and then Redemption will take a break. In a week or so, Heartless should be back up for sale.

What are the differences between 1st and 2nd editions?

1. First and foremost, the artwork. I updated the cover art. The other covers all had some aspect I found mildly annoying. (Why were they published that way in the first place? I am impatient. I am an impatient control freak. How does that translate in regard to my overall health? Stress, stress, and more stress. LOL)
2. There were a few things I overlooked that my husband thought were rather important. I fixed those.
3. And, of course, I noticed a couple little typos that were overlooked in the billion edits these all went through before publication. There is always at least one, no matter how many different people go over the manuscript however many times. Even "professional" editors miss things.
4. I also cleaned up the formatting a bit. This altered the page count. The books seem longer now. They are not. The word count is the same. Ex: Betrayal went from being 144pgs to 172pgs. The word count is still about 60,000.

All that aside, here is an example of the new & old covers

I think you see my point...

Regency Law

Good grief! There is a reason I never considered becoming a lawyer. I hate law books. 

Legal age of adulthood in Regency England: I've heard 21 or 25, male or female; I've heard 21 for men; 25 for women. Everyone seems to have a different idea.

If I understand A Compendious and Comprehensive Law Dictionary By Thomas Walter Williams (1816) correctly, the legal age of adulthood was 21, male or female. At 21, a person was old enough, by law, to marry without parental consent. They were also allowed to do whatever they want with whatever unentailed properties they owned. This seems to be true of women, but somewhere I read that women never got the total freedom with their property that men did. I'll be looking into this some more...

If I got this wrong, feel free to correct me. 

Ran Into a Leeetle Snag With Deception

In editing my newest novel, Deception, I have realized that I made a mistake in a certain aspect of Regency history. Oops. I have to modify this detail since I can't, in good conscience, release a book onto the general public with a known historical inaccuracy. Obviously, as we are all imperfect and historical authors have not actually lived in the time period we favor--however much we may want to--I may have missed something in one of my previous novels. I hope not, of course, and tried very hard to get everything right...ah, well. I think I am beginning to ramble. Allow me to get to the point.

Deception's release will be delayed until sometime next week. My apologies for this delay.

New Release

I am hoping to get my newest Regency, Deception, on the virtual bookshelves by the end of this week. It is connected to my currently published novels.

Briefly: 

Determined to find love, Aurora Glendenning hides her wealth and status, all too aware that money will often blind a man. When she meets Levi, Lord Greville, she thinks her prayers have been answered. There's just one problem: he needs wealth to prevent his swift relocation to debtor's prison. When an improper meeting results in a rushed wedding, Aurora's lies begin to unravel. Her past arrives in the form of an old love, revealing far more than she'd ever intended. Levi's love is tested, Aurora's life is threatened, and through it all, a little girl is the catalyst. 

First Post

Hmmm. Yet another blog. These seem to be taking over the internet.

There are so many things on my mind, I hardly know where to start. So, I write. Endlessly. Nonstop. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night to jot down scenes, characters, storylines, even cover designs. I don't think I've really slept for years now. Of course, five years ago, the first of my two children was born. That could have some bearing on the lack of sleep issue, as well. :o)

More later, after I've worked out all the details and pinched this blog into something more indicative of me.