Yep, it’s been a year since The Progression was released and now it’s part of the boxed set for the series.  

Book Two is Megan’s book. She’s not a doctor who can create a vaccine to stop a worldwide pandemic or a scientist who understands what’s happening with the planet as it warms and weather patterns change. She’s a secretary, an office manager who runs things for the powers that be.

Doesn’t sound glamorous, but damn is it necessary. Someone has to organize and plan for the survivors Megan helped to escape from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Someone has to inventory their supplies and keep the peace in a tight environment (ever worked in a suite with a bunch of other people?) And someone has to ensure that what is needed is there for the people who have become her family.  And maybe there will be some time to explore what could be her future with Jim.

Making it easy – leave a comment for a chance at a copy of The Infection – The Melting Book One. Get started on the series today!

Amazon,  Barnes & Noble,  AllRomance

I got to attend the conference this year in Atlanta and had a wonderful time despite Joaquin, the hurricane and the torrential rains in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. During the conference we were inside and dry with Cody Johnvin – Clean Reads cover model and all round great guy for putting up with us! 

The Georgia Romance Writers really know how to put on a conference. Nancy Lee Badger and I drove down and roomed together to meet and visit with Laurel Blount, Kay Butler, Darila Pichanick, Mia McKimmy, and Kim Turner to mention a few.

Got to hear Jana Oliver and Chris Marie Green at lunch presentations. Attended classes led by Bryonna Nobles, Tyra Burton, Annie Ooortman and Maria Connor on editing, marketing, and even the importance of Greek myths in our current literature. Hearts of Carolina’s own Laura Simcox and Michele Summers led a super class on storyboarding, which had me thinking in new directions! Got to meet and visit with Carrie Nichols, winner of the Maggie for her Contemporary Category Romance – The Sheriff’s Little Matchmaker.  

My friend Elena Dillon couldn’t make it this year, but many congratulations to her for finaling in the Young Adult Maggies for Shimmer! Also congratulations to HCRW’s Virginia Kantra for willing the Maggie for Carolina Man!

Carrie Nichols!

     Lunch!

Laura Simcox                  Candice Havens            Laurel Blount, Nancy Lee Badger & Me

Boy, does that have a new meaning for me this year! Yes, there were all those years when I had to go back myself and dreaded it with a fervor that was real. I didn’t miss seeing my friends, in my tiny hometown everyone I wanted to see was within bike range and I saw them more in the summer without the math or history. I probably had some teachers I liked—Mr. James in freshman English comes to mind, but school doesn’t bring up positive memories for me. Bullies were the norm then and I never escaped, just keeping my head down and getting the work done.

It took years before I realized my sister, the schoolteacher, dreaded going back just as much or more than the students. That was an eye-opener. Teachers pray for snow days harder than students too. Who knew?

Then I moved from working at a university in the Provost Office to the Business Affairs division. The pace is incredibly different in Business Affairs. For one thing, we don’t deal that much with students face to face. We’re the infrastructure people—the police, the plants, the plumbing, the post office, the parking and summer is when we had to go into high gear to get things done before the students descend on us again.

Now don’t think we had any summers off—that’s the professors and the students, not us drones. We were working harder than ever in a compressed time frame and the way we knew the kids were back was the parking got screwed up and we couldn’t go off campus to eat anymore because we’d never find a place to park when we got back. It takes a good two weeks before a freshman can figure out parking, so we’d huddle in our offices out of the way and bring in a sandwich.  

But I retired!!! I don’t have to go back at all this fall. I almost missed it altogether and boy am I missing it—not at all. Now I can read what I want when I want, and if I can’t find the book I’m looking for, I can write it. For those of you facing back to school, if you’re a student—hold on, it won’t last forever and if you’re a parent—congratulations on getting them back out of the house. Enjoy!