I met Michelle Garren Flye, author of Close Up Magic – I interviewed her on my blog not long ago, so that was major cool. Visited with Sabrina Jefferies who was up for a Rita for A Lady Never Surrenders as well as Jennifer Delamere who was also up for a Rita for her first book – An Heiress at Heart.  Cherry Adair was gracious enough to remember me – I met her the day after I signed my first contract (for Rth Rising) and when I mentioned I had signed at the dinner in her honor – very shyly because I really didn’t know anyone there – she jumped up, ran around the table and held me. That’s something I’ll never forget.  

Had lunch with several hundred of my closest friends on Thursday and Friday. Cathy Maxwell of the Scandal and Seduction novels was the keynote speaker on Thursday, and Kristan Higgins spoke on Friday.  I must say she had us rolling on the floor and in tears the next minute. Not only do they write well, they’re incredible speakers! Too far back to get good pictures even with the huge screens, but heard great.

Sylvia Day, president of RWA this year did a wonderful job and also graciously took a picture with me at her signing. Can you see what kind of fan girl time I was having? 

Okay, major fan girl conference for me.  Started off with a bang – I got to meet Heather Graham at the literacy signing and she personally autographed a copy of The Night is Watching. Got my picture made with her and got to visit just a little. Also saw Char Chaffin, author of Unsafe Haven – you’ll see that picture too. The signing was a mad house as usual, but so cool.  

After I got out, went to dinner with Elena Dillon, author of Breathe and Cyn Haydn, author of the Aurelia Series. We’re visiting, catching up, talking writing and I glance over at the next table.  Who’s there – Nora. Now I did do a double-take, but did not embarrass myself horribly, did not jump up to ask for an autograph, did not sneak a picture, but she was close enough to touch. And it just kept getting better. 

Attended the FF&P dinner and Prism Awards ceremony in costume. Don’t know if there’s a picture of that, which is probably good. Oops, found one. Probably the best meal I ate the entire conference and got to share the table with Nancy Lee Badger, author of The Highland Games Through Time series, J.C. Hay author of Sails & Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy,Book of All Flesh, Dark Faith,  as well as Christie Meierz  who won the Prism for Futuristic.

Many thanks to Nancy Lee Badger for the pictures!  More on Wednesday!

Okay, I know my stories revolve around ecology and saving the planet – even if it’s just a word or two here and there, but I can’t help being excited. Wraith’s Heart is now available in paper as well as an eBook and Wow!

I’m going to be able to hold my book in my hands, with my name on the cover. I have no doubt those of you out there with 50+ books under your belt are smiling right now. You remember your first, don’t you? Yes, I mean your first book! Stay on topic.

If I get up the nerve, I can have an actual book signing. A totally scary thought to be sure. Ebooks gave me space from my readers, a little breathing room. I knew my family read them (some of them) and my roommates and some friends but I didn’t see them do it, so I didn’t have to think about it.

What’s that quote from Robert Heinlein – “Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.”

Now I’m going to be out there. Not famous, but known in some circles and that’s a weird feeling. I never thought about that side of it. The marketing, the social media – I just thought I could go off by myself and write. Okay, I’ve known different about that side of things for a couple of years now but in paper…on shelves…heck, in libraries!

Think I’ll go have a glass of wine to celebrate. I’ve earned the hot flash.

Wraith’s Heart

For the next 6 hours Wraith’s Heart is on discount for the paperback – http://www.amazon.com/Donna-Steele/e/B007G8V5C6

Book Spotlight – Pink Neon by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, multicultural romance

Length:  73K

Available beginning July 3 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, All Romance Ebooks

Pink Neon begins with a woman driving a vintage fire engine red GTO over the hills and curves in the Ozarks, a woman too exotic to be a native with her dark skin and corn-rowed braids.  She’s brave, though, and bold as she comes to start over, to begin again in a different place in order to realize her dreams.  Cecily, my heroine, revealed herself before I ever began writing but my hero, an FBI agent named Daniel Padilla strolled into my story and made it his tale, too.

Blurb:

When Cecily Brown roared into the vacation hotspot of Branson, Missouri, she had nothing on her mind but distancing herself from her life in Chicago after a divorce. She planned to make her long standing dreams of owning a boutique called ‘Pink Neon’ come true and forget the decade she spent trapped in a hellish marriage to millionaire jeweler Willard Bradford VI. Once she arrives, though, she finds she’s a minority among the tourists with her corn rowed braids and African-American heritage but Cecily is determined to stay.

Her cousin calls to tell her the news – her ex-husband managed to get murdered on the steps of his mansion but Cecily doesn’t care. Her old life is history and she’s eager to move forward with the grand opening of her boutique. Her first customer at Pink Neon is a man, dark and mysterious. She pegs him for a criminal or a cop but their attraction is intense. So is their first date which ends in intimacy and soon, she’s all but inseparable from Daniel Padilla. He carries his own old baggage too.

Life’s good until Padilla admits he’s an FBI agent sent to check Cecily out. She reacts with anger but as she learns she’s become the FBI’s favorite suspect, she has to trust Daniel if she can trust anyone at all. As the investigation heats up, she ends up heading south with him to Texas, as she and her FBI lover try to discover who the real killer might be. But danger lurks and it’s going to get rough before they straighten things out….if they can.

Excerpt:

Beneath his mirrored sunglasses, his eyes burned and below his brimmed cap, Daniel Padilla endured a headache of epic proportion.  Although he preferred to blame it on the drive down from Kansas City, he suspected the multiple Tequila shots he tossed down after checking into a cheap ass motel sometime after midnight might be the cause.  He intended for the alcohol to help him sleep and it did but since the price turned out to include serious pain, he wished he’d stayed sober.  Uneasy waves stirred in his belly but he spooned a little vanilla ice cream into his mouth anyway.  It might ease the nausea and at least it’d make his cover look genuine.  So far I don’t like Branson and I sure as hell never thought I’d come here again but I’m here. So far it sucks worse than I thought it might.

He watched as a woman came outside from the shop next door, a tricked up boutique with a pink neon sign above the door.  Daniel studied her face and after squinting, he decided despite the corn row braids, the casual clothes it was Cecily Brown, recent ex-wife of jewelry magnate and millionaire Willard Bradford.  She’s a lot prettier this way.  His fingers fumbled open the manila file lying on the picnic table where he sat.  Daniel studied the photos through his bleary eyes and removed the shades for a better view.  The woman in the pictures wore her hair down, sleek as satin and styled.  Her conservative garments whispered of both wealth and professional privilege.  The muted colors, soft pastels, dowsed her beauty instead of enhancing it. Daniel snorted as he counted the rings on her well-shaped hands and noted with derision the dangling diamond earrings she wore.  Rich bitch.  Yet he found her attractive in person, graceful and almost beautiful.  Nothing about the jeans and simple t-shirt she wore looked pretentious.  But he wondered if she’d really killed her former spouse and made off with the jewels.  She sure as hell doesn’t look the type but you never know.  If he’d learned any lesson in his ten years with the FBI, Daniel discovered anyone could do anything.

If he hadn’t been sure, he would’ve doubted this woman could be the same one in the pictures.  That woman looked elegant but empty, stilted and confined.  The gal he watched sashay across the parking lot radiated heat. Pink highlighted her coloring and enhanced her looks.  She paused at a vintage GTO he’d love to own and opened the door.  Cecily Brown slid into the passenger seat and Daniel watched her lips tilt into a smile as she turned the key in the ignition.  As the motor caught, he heard a burst of music from the CD player, the unmistakable retro sound of The Pointer Sisters.  Daniel listened as Cecily sang along, her voice a rich alto, true to the tune as it blended into ‘Fire’, the classic hit.

For a moment he forgot his headache and the spoon in his hand dropped into the paper container of ice cream as he stared.  Cecily Brown, he thought, was fire.  His battle scarred heart lost its rhythm as Daniel watched her pull out onto the strip, her voice ringing out over the traffic sounds enough he caught snatches of the song.  Provocative, evocative the lyrics touched a chord within, one he thought broken and unresponsive.  Shit, the song’s older than both of us.  But it retained power and heat.  The music evoked feelings he thought he buried long ago. With pure instinct Daniel tossed his half-eaten ice cream and jumped in his black sedan to follow her.

My links:

Twitter: leeannwriter

From Sweet to Heat: The Romance of Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

https://www.facebook.com/pages/From-Sweet-To-Heat-The-Romance-of-Lee-Ann-Sontheimer-Murphy/287540748010934?ref=hl

Website/blog: http://leeannsontheimermurphywriterauthor.blogpspot.com

Blog: Rebel Writer: Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

http://leeannsontheimermurphy.blogspot.com

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Ann-Sontheimer-Murphy/e/B004JPBM6I

Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4543214.Lee_Ann_Sontheimer_Murphy

TRR/Manic: http://www.goodreads.com/author/list/4543214.Lee_Ann_Sontheimer_Murphy