Yeah, yeah, yeah… for someone who writes books and things I don’t seem to do much writing. At least here, that is. There’s a good reason for it.

Being a human incubator takes a lot out of you.

Of course, holding down a full-time job with a three-year old, a writing habit in more than one genre, AND taking on two huge editing projects at one time will take a lot out of a person without the tiny succubus now present in my life. She’ll be here in November and we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming. Maybe.

So all of that aside, I have still been pretty busy. Crymsyn and I ended up doing a total rewrite on Frozen Hearts & Blazing Souls after contract, and it’s back in the hands of the editor for round two.

Purple Sword Publications has taken Marked and we’re finishing up cover art and minor details on that as well. I love that book, and I’d forgotten just how much until I reread it and did a little updating prior to submitting it. Now I just have to decide what I’m going to do with Loki’s Game now that I have the rights back.

I’m working on a really schmoopy Christmas romance and a few short projects. They’re all sort of jockeying for last place in my brain right now (I haven’t written anything substantial since finishing the rewrite on FHBS), so that’s an adventure. I’ve got a few interesting horror things cooking up there too.

As for the editing, which seems to be the big question on everyone’s tongue these days… It’s going well. The selection process took a bit longer than we anticipated simply because we had so many stories to read, and so many of them were so good. Margie and I have completed our selections, and Carpe Noctem has now turned into a two-book ordeal. It’s sister book, Tenebris Amore sprang from the four-hour discussion in which we discovered we had way too many stories we loved to let them all go. For the most part we agreed on everything. There were one or two we each championed to the other, and in the end it has all worked out for the best.

Contracts and rejection emails should be just about complete, and as soon as I have the digital files in hand, I’ll begin round one of edits.

Let me tell you guys… there are some absolutely outstanding stories, which is how we ended up with two volumes. For the most part even the rejections were very good…they just didn’t fit the call. It’s very hard to accept a horror story for a romance anthology. And we did get quite a bit of horror, which tells me the idea of Paranormal Romance many not be quite so cut and dry as we originally thought. Nonetheless, I’m considering one or two for my horror anthology project simply because they were just so freaking good.

So, two anthologies? How does that work???

I’m glad you asked. Carpe Noctem will be the first book, and will feature paranormal stories with a strong romantic thread and a happy ending. These will be the more traditional romantic stories that, despite the paranormal critters, are meant to give readers warm fuzzies.

The second book, Tenebris Amore, is much darker. The stories are still love stories, but not in traditional ways. The endings aren’t always happy, but each of the works we selected showcases a soul-deep love, and the ability of the human heart to accept the painful, and sometimes even the impossible.

I love these books, and I can’t wait to see them in production. Those of you who were accepted… you’ll be hearing from me very soon. To those who weren’t selected, thank you for your fantastic submissions. I look forward to seeing future work from each of you.