The New Books for 2021

I told everyone I was done with release dates and I am so very done with release dates.  The truth is that I am always writing.  When I work on a project, I know I'm getting closer to finishing it.  I feel it as soon as I finish the first draft.  I whisper to myself that as soon as the groundwork is laid out, I'm close to finishing.  Then one magical day, it's finished.

One time, I turned to my husband and said, "I finished Where Her Garden Grows." (the first title of Hidden Library)

And he said, "Just like that?"

And I nodded.  "Just like that."

I had finished the first draft.  The end was so close.  Little did I know I would replace two whole chapters, cut another chapter completely, and add another plot arch.  I even changed the title.  It's hard to say exactly what needs to be done to a book in order to proclaim it complete.  The sanding that must take place has to continue until the words are smooth.

With that said, I'd like to tell y'all what I've laid out for the coming year.  First up:

Rose Red

Rose Red is a book I wrote ten or eleven years ago.  There's an old version of it on fictionpress.com.  It has 96 reviews.  Even though it has been that long, I still get fan mail for it occasionally.  It's a weird story, about how in the future a man can buy a woman.  It's full of renovations, cows, deadly diseases, hot models, princesses, and strangeness.  And it's only 60,000 words.  Once I learned how to prepare a manuscript for print, I needed to practice, so I decided this was a perfect project to polish for a paperback.  I thought it was in great shape because I still had people writing in to tell me how much they enjoyed it.

I would hate to tell my fans that they are wrong, but fans... I had to rip half that book down to the bone when I began preparations for publication.  

Ugh... words everywhere.

Okay, so maybe my fans weren't wrong... it was a fun book, but after I got my hands on it, I made it SO much better.  I've actually been working on it in my spare time for months and I can see the end on the horizon.  It's definitely coming out in 2021.

This is a trailer I cut to advertise it.  I've never posted a video to my blog before.  Let's see if it runs smoothly.  It's the cover reveal:

Onto the next book:

If Diamonds Could Talk

This is the sequel to His 16th Face.  I wrote the whole first draft last summer when no one could go anywhere.  Then I also finished the second draft, still in the summer, because no one could go anywhere.  Now I'm working on the third and I have high hopes that it will be my final draft.  Let's be honest, when you're working with characters you've already established, there is nothing in this world simpler than to write a second book.

I would hate to give a spoiler for His 16th Face.  It's one of my favorite books.  It goes like this: Beth was dying of heart disease until Christian mysteriously saved her life.  After three years of living as his ward, the only thing she knows for certain is that Christian Henderson is not his real name.  Who is he?  Why does she love him completely when he hides so much from her?

If Diamonds Could Talk has been a great project, because I've never written anything weirder.  It is very weird.  I'm actually terrified to release it to the public because of how smart the reader is going to have to be to understand it.  When I work on it, the words spin and twirl.  It's a very brave project.  Sometimes it's nicer just to write a romance novel where two people meet and fall in love and the rules are rules that everyone understands.  If Diamonds Could Talk is not like that.  I'm scared to death I won't be able to connect it to the readers who will truly appreciate the imagination to break everything we understand.

I'll do a cover reveal for this when I'm on round two or three of editing.  The cover is enchanting.

If I Tie You Down

This is the romance novel I've been waiting for.  It's not just the romance novel I want to write, but it's also the romance novel I want to read.  Cutting to the quick, I have read a lot of romance novels.  Nurse/doctor romance novels where there is never enough blood or emergency.  Office romance novels where the author has never set foot inside an office and doesn't know how things go down.  Farm romance novels where the hook might be baking your own bread and not the man at all.  Emergency romance novels where you're stuck in the woods and if you don't strip down, you'll die of hypothermia.  Or perhaps the most common, the one where a billionaire buys love.  I really don't like the billionaire ones.  They're gross.

No, no, no.  I showed the first chapter of this to a publishing company and they offered me a deal... which I turned down.  I gotta do things my way.

It's about Shannon and Fletch.  She kidnapped him with her friend, Natalie, only to discover that he was not the man they were trying to kidnap.  After handcuffing him in a deserted camp kitchen, Shannon and Natalie fight with unconscious consequences.  The book begins when Shannon wakes up, handcuffed to Fletch in the camp kitchen with Natalie nowhere in sight.  She has no idea who Fletch is, but he knows who she is.  She's famous for breaking hearts and ruining lives.  If she ever wants to get out, she's got some explaining to do.

So, I was going through bits of my old, discarded writing.  I read the title, had no idea what it was, and opened it up.  I read the first chapter and squealed.  There was no way I even reviewed it before I got snapped up to do something else.  Immediately, I wrote two more chapters.  I LOVE SHANNON AND FLETCH.  Then I wrote three more chapters.  Then I wrote MORE!  

I really hope I get to release this in 2021.  It's what everyone needs to cheer up!  Wish me luck and when I say that, I don't mean 'Good luck'.  I mean 'All the luck in the world.'