Forbidden Sea Sequel

The first person ever to finish reading my entire sequel to Forbidden Sea just got back to me about what she thought of it. She said she liked it even better than the first book! And how did this anonymous person get a hold of my entire unpublished manuscript you might ask? She's a member of my writer's group. If there are any would be authors out there reading this, I highly recommend joining a writer's group to everyone. I've learned so much from them. My writer's group is the BEST. However, they are also known for being brutally honest. So it means a lot to get positive feedback from any of them once in a while.

My writer's group friend did have one other suggestion to make while reading the manuscript. Even MORE romance, please.

Your wish is my command. : )

Questions You are Dying to Know the Answer Too--Answered

Have a question about Forbidden Sea that you are dying to know the answer too? Well this is your chance to ask those questions. Leave your questions in the comments below and you just might get an answer. (I must warn you though, that some things I can't say too much about because they are covered in the sequel.) Give it a try and see!

I'll start off by answering the one question I get more than any other when visiting with readers.

*Spoiler Warning* Do not read questions and answers unless you have read the book Forbidden Sea.


Do Adrianne and Denn ever get together? The answer is YES. But if you want to know more about how it happened, you'll have to read the sequel. : )

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Cassandra, the very first official follower to the Mysterious Blog! I might just have to name a character after you in one of my upcoming manuscripts as a reward! I even know which character it would be. What do you think? Thanks for coming aboard! Hope you will visit often.

Horse Stories

I swore to myself that I would never write a horse book. EVER. When I was a girl, I read nothing but horse books for so long I grew tired of them. I still LOVE horses, but not horse books. There is a horse in Forbidden Sea, but it is not a horse book. Really. I promise. So what should happen to me the other day? I got the most fabulous idea for a story and it is (you guessed it) a horse story. Although, not in the traditional sense. There is magic involved---and fey—and true love--and, of course, horses. This story seized my imagination so much I wrote the first two chapters without even trying. The problem is, I have too many stories I’m working on already. I’m going to have to put this one on the back burner or I will never get my current stories done. Maybe I can whittle away on it here and there from time to time when I’ve got writer’s block on the other manuscripts. If only there were more hours in a day. *SIGH*

Talking With a Dear Friend

I’ve been in the throes of research for a couple of my upcoming stories lately. In one of these stories I have a character that has dealing with cancer. One of the things I did to learn about cancer was interview a very dear friend of mine who had suffered through a recent battle with leukemia. Listening to her speak candidly of the horrific experience touched me down to my core. She let me read diary entries of her darkest days, gave me a blow by blow account of what treatment was like. I cried all the way home in the car as I realized what a beautiful and strong person my friend is. A true hero was right in front of me, and I didn't even know it. It makes me wonder how many other incredible stories are happening all around me if I only had eyes to see the truth. It has been a very humbling experience.

Research Can be Fun

A friend of mine recently found the book shown to the left at a thrift store and bought it for me knowing how much I love doll collecting. Little did she realize that this book is exactly what I need as research material for one of my current stories.

The book is practically an antique itself, having been written back in 1974, but it has some fantastic information about antique dolls--a subject I am currently needing to know a lot more about.

I even went and had a friend set up an interview for me with a woman who owned a doll museum in the area I live. It was so much fun talking with this woman and finding out all about dolls and their long, romantic history. The museum owner lived in this fantastic old Victorian house which caught my imagination as she gave me a tour of it. It made me want to run right home and get to writing on my story without delay.

I have also taken to reading a couple of Georgette Heyer's novels in an attempt to do some minor research for the book. I have discovered I like Heyer's work very much. I might just have to read a few more of her mystery novels in the future--for pleasure this time.

Who knew research could be so much fun?

Character Sketches

There aren't enough books about centaurs in the world, don't you think?

These are some character sketches I made for an upcoming book I plan to write. I usually work on three manuscripts at any given time. Right now I'm actively working on one story that is almost complete, one story that I'm about half way through the first rough draft, and one book I've started preliminary work and research on, so it's ready to go once I finish the book that is almost complete.

There are lots of other stories that crowd my mind begging to be written (besides these three stories) but they have to wait patiently until it is their turn.