biancadarc.com Blog

Update

So I dragged you all down into my sadness in my last post. Sorry. I had a moment of crisis and no one to talk to, so I started writing. I’m a writer. I do that. It helped to write out some of my feelings, though I’m sorry if I brought anyone down, so now we’ll get back to a little book-related news…

Looks like CAT’S CRADLE has gone up on the Samhain Publishing “coming soon” pages, but the cover hasn’t made it up yet. I saw the cover a week or two ago, so I know it’s done. I’m not sure what the hold up is, but I’ll be checking to see when it goes up so I can post it for you. (The cover isn’t official until it goes up on the Samhain site, which is my signal it’s been approved by The Powers That Be.)

I’m working on the galley proof of ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD right now. As soon as I’m done with that, the book is done – on my end at least. If my last Kensington Brava book is any indication, the next thing that will happen is I’ll get some ARCs in the mail. Can’t wait for that!

I’m also working on the second round of edits of CAT’S CRADLE. We’re behind schedule on this book because of all the turmoil in my life. I can’t thank the folks at Samhain enough for working with me during this time. They’ve been very supportive and flexible on the timing of my deadlines, which is a really big help. Since the book is due out on January 5th, we still have a nice amount of time to get everything done, so I’m not too worried. I just need to find the time to do the work in between and around doctor’s appointments, cooking, coaxing Mom to eat, and housework. Ah, what a glamorous life.

So that’s it from here for now. More news as it becomes available.

Busy Weekend!

I didn’t expect it to turn out this way, but as sometimes happens in this business, a lot of things came to a head this weekend. First, you may have noticed, I’ve changed my word count meter. Yes, I finished the first draft of ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD yesterday. (And there was great rejoicing!)

While it was all fresh in my mind, I began work on the sequel today and am already about 3,000 words into it. I’ll probably write a bit more tonight because I’m seeing it very clearly right now and want to get my plans for this novel mapped out a bit more before I settle in. I have a little bit of free time, so it’s best to lay the groundwork for the next novel now, before things get busy again. I’m agonizing over a title for it now… wish me luck.

The other happenings this weekend include a new contract offer from Samhain. It looks like I’ll be expanding my contemporary paranormal world a bit next year with the publication of a great cat shifter story I’ve had in the works for a while. It’s called CAT’S CRADLE and I’m thrilled it’s found a home at Samhain.

I also changed the graphic theme on the main pages of my website (the parts with the castle background). It went from being 800 pixels wide to 900 pixels. I’m curious to know what people think of the new arrangement, so please feel free to give me feedback either here, by email, or on my Yahoo group. It still needs a little work in some places, but I’ll be doing more on it this coming week – things always need updating when I have a new release anyway, so it’s the perfect time to fix things.

There’s been a lot of activity behind the scenes this weekend too. Some personnel changes and shakeups that I’m sure will have everyone talking next week, but let’s not forget what’s really important. LOL. I have a new book coming out on Tuesday! Yes, it’s all about me. hee hee hee.

Well… to be more accurate… it’s all about Grady Prime and his love life. GRADY’S AWAKENING is due out in ebook formats on Tuesday from Samhain, so please don’t miss it! It’s a plus sized novel that is scorching hot, with what I hope you will find to be a great story with lots of cool new characters.

Now it’s back to writing for me. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Update

If any of you have been following my progress bar (at the right of this blog in the sidebar), you might notice it hasn’t moved much since Friday. *sigh* I took a long weekend and found myself goofing off badly. I actually picked up two paperbacks this weekend – a big deal since I don’t buy many paperbacks anymore. I spent yesterday reading Nalini Singh’s BRANDED BY FIRE. I absolutely love her psy-changling series and she is super nice. I really expected her to win the RITA for best paranormal this year and am astounded she didn’t. My sympathies to Nalini. If I were voting, she’d have been a shoo-in. LOL

On Saturday, I read Christine Feehan’s HIDDEN CURRENTS. Loved that too! I adore her Drake Sisters series as well as her Carpathians. They were the first paranormals I ever read in ebook form. I had this old Palm Pilot they gave me at work and I searched around in the Palm store and found these vampire books. I had no idea who she was at the time – this was more than a decade ago – but those ebook versions of DARK GOLD, DARK PRINCE and DARK…whatever (I get the names all mixed up ’cause they’re so similar) turned me in an ebook believer!

But I digress… my book, ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD, is coming along. I had a really good week last week, adding over 17,000 words to the manuscript. I’m at a crucial point in the action, which I guess is why I stalled a little. I need to think through how the next series of events is going to work. My mind works in the background while I do other things – sorta like a computer doing updates while allowing you to continue doing other stuff (LOL). I’ve been sorting through how the events are going to go down and I think by later tonight I should be ready to write it all down.

I know where it’s going and how it will end up. It’s the convoluted path to get to that point that’s up for debate. Right now I left my heroine hanging as a prisoner of a mad scientist. *evil grin* The zombies are getting stronger and the hero is super pissed off. Never get in the way of an angry alpha male warrior. I foresee he’s about to kick some ass. Big time.

I’m aiming to finish the first draft of this manuscript by early August, if possible. Then I’ll have a few weeks to self-edit before I send it in. Wish me luck!

Update: Sidebar Revamp & Writing Progress

Some of you may have noticed, I finally updated my sidebar on the blog a bit. About time, I know. I’ve added the August eBook release covers and tried to do a little cosmetic fixing here and there. I also reinstated the progress bars for two current WIPs (Works In Progress).

DRAGON STORM is the next Dragon Knights novel. I decided on the title – finally – a week or two ago. As you can see from the meter, the book is almost done. Just a little polishing and finishing off of final scenes and I’ll be ready to submit it to my editor at Samhain.

The meter currently called “Zombie Novel” is tracking my first paranormal military romance (with zombies) for Kensington Brava. The working title is ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD, but that was too long to fit on one line in the sidebar.

On the website side, I’ve also added a preliminary sort of “announcement” page on my site for the new series. I’m tentatively calling the whole series Guardians of the Dark, but that could also change. Still, I was sick of waiting and wanted to put something up there now, so I’m running with this until I find out otherwise. You can find the page here.

I’m also tinkering with my website again. I’m considering going to a 1000 pixel wide main section that would have two sidebars – one on the right and one on the left – but I’m not certain it will work out or not. I’m also worried about compatibility. I know most of us have widescreens nowadays but I am aware that some people are still using older systems and I’d hate to make my site difficult for them. Any opinions?

I also need to find a way to sort of segregate the kinkier menage books from the more traditional m/f stories. I haven’t sorted out how to do that yet and am still looking for a solution. Again, any ideas would be welcome!

It’s going to be a long couple of months of non-stop writing to meet my new deadlines. I’ll also be reinventing my website, I hope. Wish me luck!

Where Did June Go?

As you can tell from the scarcity of blog posts from me this past month, I’ve been a busy, busy girl! I was on vacation most of the month and as luck would have it, my laptop developed major power supply problems while I was away. As a result, I had to ration my internet time. *gasp!*

I went through serious withdrawal. I expect many of you can understand what it’s like for a computer addict to have to go cold turkey like that. It’s not fun.

Luckily, the vacation was great and now I’m back, raring to go. (As soon as I finish “recovering” from my vacation and get back into the swing of things.) A lot has happened over the past weeks that I didn’t have a chance to talk about.

First, I attended the Lori Foster event back at the beginning of the month, which was fantastic! The most fun for me this year was hanging out with Valerie Tibbs, Jambrea Jo Jones, Vivian Arend, Jayne Rylon, Mari Carr and Rhian Cahill. It was only a few hours, but it really was the highlight of my weekend. These are some super-fun and talented ladies!

Then I went on vacation and all hell broke loose. My computer went on strike, my family went nuts and I went on a shopping spree the likes of which have not been perpetrated in many years. It was FUN!

In the meantime, JACI’S EXPERIMENT was officially released in print. I got the proof for the cover for GRADY’S AWAKENING, which is so awesome, I can’t wait to show you guys once it’s approved. I also got the cover for TAG TEAM, a military/paranormal menage novella that will be out at the end of August. That one, I believe I can post without delay, so I’ll do so tomorrow for your viewing pleasure.

I’ve also been working on my military/paranormal novel for Kensington Brava. We’ve been kicking around title ideas and may go with something like ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD. See, the bad guys in the book are zombies and they like to bite. If you’re like 99% of the population, when they bite you, you die, then rise to become one of them. But if you’re one of the lucky ones, you’re immune from their contagion and live to fight another day. So I think the title could work.

Lots more going on, but that’s all I can think of for now…

Oh! INFERNO comes out next week!!! Mark your calendars! Tuesday, June 30th. Yay!!! :D

Update: Dragons & Zombies

I’m happy to report I’m now about 2/3-3/4 finished writing the next dragon book, as of today. Yippee! If all goes as planned, this book (which still doesn’t have a title) will come out later this year.

On the zombie front… things are going well. The novella, titled SIMON SAYS, has been turned in to my editor. I’ve also been working on plotting at least two more novels with zombies in them. More news on that when I learn more myself.

Other than that, I’m working on recovering from a nasty stomach flu I must’ve caught over the long weekend. Living on the couch, writing on the laptop and watching lots of TV. Not my normal pastimes, but a nice break when I’m not feeling well. Plus, I’m getting a lot of writing done, which is always great.

Update

Lots going on in Bianca-land. My house has been turned upside down by preparations for RT (Romantic Times Conference in FL this year). I’m stuffing bags – hundreds of them – for prizes and giveaways at the conference. This is why April has been, for the past three years, the most stressful month of the year for me. After this, Christmas is a breeze! LOL

So my house is a mess. I have a toothache and need to see the dentist on top of all my other stress. (Boo!) And I’m writing a new dragon book. There are a multitude of little things getting in my way, but I’m determined to not let anything get me down.

I’ve got a new book in print and a new ebook release! Thankfully, both are doing well and I have to thank my readers, once again, for their enthusiasm and good wishes. FireDrake is doing rather well on the Amazon lists for a trade paperback and Phantom Desires is climbing up the MBAM Best Seller list, for which I am SO grateful!

Come back here tomorrow for a little contest designed for those who can’t be at RT this year. I’ve got lots of goodies to give away!

A Day Without Internet…

Actually, more like 2 days with no internet and I’m seriously behind!

First, let me thank ARe for the Best Selling Author of 2008 Award. I made it home just in time to attend the ceremony, held online at BlogTalkRadio and even with hardware issues (speakers fading in and out), I was able to hear most of the program. They did a great job announcing the books, authors and fans who won this year’s awards. Thank you to ARe and to all the readers out there who made this possible!

And let me apologize to those of you who might’ve made it into the chat room. Between the strangeness going on with my speakers and my loopiness from having just returned home fifteen minutes earlier from a 200 mile 3+ hour drive, I don’t think I was making much sense in the chat. I apologize! (And am mightily embarrassed!)

Special shout outs to all the other talented authors and to my publisher, Samhain, who won the Best Publisher of the year award. WTG!

Now, a quick recap of Sunday and Monday to bring you up to date…

Sunday was my day at NY ComicCon. I met Stella Price there and we walked over 7 miles on the exhibit floor! (I wore a pedometer, just out of curiosity.) We ran into a few celebrities and got a lot of books and freebies. Ate an overpriced lunch at the convention center ($4 for a small soda?!) bought stuff and generally had a good time. We even ran into author, Isabo Kelly in the final panel, but had to boogie out of there to catch our ride. Stella’s boy toy was kind enough to give me a lift to Penn Station, from which I took the train home.

I was home for about 15 minutes before heading right back out again, this time in my car, for a whirlwind trip to Pennsylvania and back. When I got there – surprise! – no internet. Wah! I went through the pains of withdrawal and suffered horribly. I arrived home about 9:15 pm, only to realize I was supposed to be at the ARe Awards in 15 minutes. Hence, my discombobulation at the actual event.

I have a ton of email to sort through, so if you’re waiting on a response from me, please understand and give me a little time to get back into the swing of things.

Thanks once again to ARe and congratulations to all the winners!

Catching Up

Greetings, D’Arc Siders! Time for a little update. There’s lots going on around here. First, I’d like to welcome all the newcomers to The D’Arc Side. Between the various contests I’m participating in this season, I’ve noticed a lot of new faces, so welcome!

Angie’s contest for the Kindles is going smashingly! If you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to take a look. We’re giving away 2 Kindles, loaded with Samhain books! (I’m in group 2.)

In other news, I’ve been writing up a storm and am proud to say that “Inferno” is more than half finished. This is the vampire Dante’s story, whom we first met in “Lords of the Were.” He’s come a long way since then and he’s still traveling with his half-fey friend, Duncan.

If all goes well, I should be hitting about 50,000 words in the next hour on this manuscript, so you can see, it’s moving right along. Utimately, I think it’ll wind up somewhere around 80-90,000 words or so. I’ve had this plot in mind for a long time now, but no time to write it. I picked up the gauntlet in mid-November and the ride to this point has been super smooth and fast, I’m glad to report.

My schedule last year has led me to reevaluate all the traveling I’ve been doing to conferences and such. As a result, I think I’m going to scale back a bit in 2009. Each trip takes a chunk of time out of my writing schedule with preparation, the actual traveling and then recovery time. So a weekend event could end up costing me 2 or 3 weeks worth of concentration. And then the bugs I managed to pick up at the various events lengthened my “recovery” time, adding illness onto the fun (not) that is traveling.

Chances are, I’ll be doing a few less appearances in 2009. Right now I’m planning on going to LunaCon in March, RT in April, then doing a few small signings in the NY metro area in the Spring. After that, we’ll see. Sorry to have to do this, but I’ve been overextending myself and something’s gotta give. So we’ll try it this way and see how it goes. Knowing me, I’ll probably expand the schedule to include a few smaller events as we go along, but I’ll have to play it by ear.

This is all part of my end-of-the-year reappraisal of what I’ve accomplished this year and what I want to accomplish next year. It’s been a good year all in all, but I want to do even better next year! Wish me luck!

New Sale! Phantom Desires

Great news! My third and final Brotherhood of Blood novella was just sold to Samhain Publishing for publication in the Spring!

This is the last of my vampire reprints and tells the story of Carly and Dmitri Belakov. It rounds out the three Brotherhood stories and completes the set, which will most likely come out in a single print volume sometime late next year. (More news on that when I get it myself!)

The trilogy is in the process of re-releasing — these stories have been out before but in much shorter versions with another publisher that went out of business last year. One & Only, the first of the stories, released on November 7th. The second one, Rare Vintage, is scheduled for February 6th, and the third, Phantom Desires, should be out sometime in April. I’ll give you the exact date when I find out.

So it’s shaping up to be a full year for me already! The schedule for releases over the next few months stands as follows:

December – Davin’s Quest in Print

February – Rare Vintage in eBook

March – FireDrake in Print

April – Phantom Desires in eBook

May – Jaci’s Experiment in Print

I’m also planning for book 4 of my Resonance Mates series, Grady’s Awakening, later in the year and the long-awaited sequel to Lords of the Were… Dante’s story, which I’m calling Inferno right now. (That might change, but I kind of like it, so maybe not.) Another dragon book is on the agenda as well, but I’m not sure when I’ll be starting that. Grady’s Awakening is mostly finished in 1st draft form and I’m letting it sit for a month or so before I tackle polishing and writing the final scenes. I’m working on Dante’s book right now and it’s moving along like gangbusters! As of today it’s about 1/3rd complete and showing no signs of slowing down.

Edits are in process for Rare Vintage and moving right along. The story was expanded quite a bit. It doubled in size and then after my editor read the first draft, we decided to add another scene which morphed into two more chapters and made it about 3 times the size of the original. It’s all good. The story is way hotter and much more interesting than its original, much shorter form, IMHO.

Can you tell I’m excited? Things are shaping up for a great, busy year! I love it!