Dear Diary,

            It’s Thursday ~ 08/16/12 ~ and…

This is the first entry in my new weekly writer’s diary where I’ll share my “Woot Woot!” moments and the not so “woot woot” moments of my writing world. And, yes, I might even share the occasional musing or two about reading and writing, two of my favorite things!

I’ve been missing the personal touch on my blog lately. Don’t get me wrong. I love highlighting the fantastic array of authors and books I’ve been sharing on Mondays and Wednesdays. But I also enjoy sharing bits and pieces about me with readers. After all, you are one of the main reasons why I write…well, except for that whole “can’t breathe unless I’m writing” thing!

For those who have followed me any length of time, you know I used to have a Musings newsletter.  However, I tend to write “long” – I was one of those nasty students who wrote ten pages for every five page essay assigned in school – and found I was spending more time fiddling with my Musings than my books. I went from weekly musings to monthly articles to quarterly to…well, let’s just say I eventually set my newsletter aside and toddled off into the sunset of good intentions.

Yes, it had to be done.  In the past year, I’ve regained my momentum and published my first book. I finally joined the real world of social media and met a bunch of wonderful new friends on Facebook and Twitter. I’m still missing my personal chats with readers though, so I started wondering – a dangerous thing – how can I reconnect with my readers but not get so carried away it takes me three days to share what’s on my mind?

Voila! My answer is this diary. I had one growing up. I kept it locked and hidden from my sisters so they couldn’t read it. Of course, I want you to read this one! 🙂  A diary doesn’t allow much room which is why it’s the perfect solution to my need to share while also curbing my need to expound.

Yeah, yeah! I know I’m expounding! But this entry is the first and demands explanation, and I promise to keep it short and sweet next week. Maybe! I’ve called this feature “Diary Drop-In” as much for my benefit as yours.  Drop-In suggests short and sweet. Here’s hoping I can convince my brain in the weeks to come! 🙂

Okay, what’s been happening this past week in my writing world…?

For those who haven’t come across my multitude of posts on Facebook and Twitter, I was thrilled to release a new book cover for SATIN PLEASURES, my romantic comedy released on Amazon in February 2012.  I liked my original cover well enough. At the time I thought I needed an illustrated cover to get the cutesy feel I wanted. In truth, though, the cover just didn’t quite hit the mark with readers.  Not like the story did anyway. So, with a kick-in-the-pants from my critique partners, I redesigned the cover. I love, love, LOVE my new cover and hope readers like it as well. Just in case you missed it….

As one of my favorite country music artists asks, “How do you like me now?” 🙂  I still need to reformat the paperback version of the book with the new cover but that’s a project for this next week.

Many of you know I also started a new blog feature on Tuesdays called “Novel Gems”, sharing bits and pieces from my current project. It’s been fun and you seem to enjoy them so those will continue.

I also finished up two interviews this past week. One will post on August 25^th at The Reading Café << http://thereadingcafe.com/ >> along with a review of SATIN PLEASURES.  Yes, I’m sitting on pins and needles about that one! Will they like the book? Ack. The angst of a writer!  My second interview isn’t scheduled yet but check out Mary Metcalfe: Lakefront Muse at http://lakefrontmuse.blogspot.com/ to take a peek at her fun site.

I’ve set myself a deadline to finish the first of my Thorne’s Thorns series books, KILLING SECRETS, around the end of September. I need to write 1,550 words a day for next 32 days to get the approximate word count remaining or 2,175 words a day if I only work weekdays. The first word count is more reasonable considering my schedule, however, I know I tend to “live” on weekends and don’t get much writing done. Guess we’ll all see how I do, huh?

Speaking of which, I need to get back to work! See you next week with a much shorter Diary Drop-In….