I'm not very good with this blogging gig, am I? I do have great intentions of posting a few times a week but at the moment I seem to be lucky if I remember to post a few times a month. It's not that I don't have anything to say or that my life is too boring to write about, quite the opposite actually. My life is so busy and hectic that the days, weeks and sadly yes, even the months slip by without me noticing.

Book wise I am happy to be at the editing stage of Book Two. I have yet to select a title, but more about that later. I needed to ask my editor for an extension and she has been very lovely by giving me a couple more weeks.  Did you know that if a book is not about Christmas (a romance novel anyways, I can't speak for other genres) you might as well not publish it between October and January? No one (or very few) will purchase it.  This means I need to have book 2 to Victoria by the end of this month so she can publish it in September. At the moment there are holes in the manuscript that need filling. I can then concentrate on punctuation and spelling...my favourite things (insert sarcastic smile here).

While I was supposed to be editing this morning, I found a website that allows authors to sign e-books. I must admit, it was not something I expected to find, but I'm so happy I did. If I could figure out how to attach the widget to my website (technology is not always my friend) it would be easy for everyone who comes to my webpage to request an autograph, or in this case an 'authorgraph'. If you are interested in having your e-book signed, please take a look at this website Authorgraph there are other authors there too so if you have other e-books you'd like signed, please have a look.

So back to the missing title of book two...

I'm not sure exactly how much I should tell you, so I'll give you my pitch line and a small excerpt.

Baron Eaglestone, Philip Blade, finds a mystery woman battered and on the edge of death on his way home from a night out. Together they must unlock her memory to discover who she is and why someone wants her dead.

This is another Regency Time Travel novel.

Philip Blade, Baron Eaglestone, regretted his moment of weakness last night when he paid a visit to his mistress. He had already bade farewell to her for good last month. Veronica was a passionate lady and as such was hard to let go, even if she was a candidate for Bedlam. Last night's episode proved his theory correct. Next time he wouldn't be swayed!  He might also decide to stay off the drink...or at least champagne as it tended to make him forget his resolve to stay clear of her. Yes, he'd stick to brandy from now on. That was a much better idea.
A thundering of hooves broke his reflections. "Who in their right minds, would be out riding at this hour?" He muttered to himself. "They'll kill themselves running their horse at that speed in the dark."
He climbed a small rise and stopped dead at the sight that greeted him.

So there you have it. The title I'm using at the moment is Finding Harriet, but I am open to suggestions for something better. If I get a few suggestions we can have a vote for the best one. A personally signed book cover to the winner.

One last thing, I would like to draw attention to the lovely persons who have taken the time to review Debutantes Don't Date. Every time a review pops up on Amazon, my ratings jump, the reason for this I have been told is that when a book is reviewed it comes up as a suggested read. Therefore the more reviews, the more purchases. So I would encourage you to review books you like, as it helps authors tremendously, especially new authors who have not established a name for themselves yet. I will admit that it wasn't until I became an author myself that I started reviewing books. It just never occurred to me to do so.  Now I try to review the ones I liked and follow 'Thumper's advice' and if I have nothing nice to say, I don't say anything at all, about the books I don't.

Until next time,
Kristina

The list of things to do is getting shorter...and longer.

First on my list was to sign my contract. Tick! I am pleased to say that I am now an official author of Carina UK. Carina UK is a subsidiary company of Harlequin. Check out their websites to see what kind of company I'm keeping.  http://www.carinauk.com and http://www.harlequin.com I think a lot of people will be surprised to learn what else they publish.  There are even man authors...that write man books. (no I do't mean that kind...although there is probably a few of those as well!), I mean books about cars and stuff. Man stuff.  I must admit I was surprised to find out that Harlequin published something other than romance.  Not that there is anything wrong with romance, I write it, but Harlequin is synonymous with romance.  I mean, who hasn't heard of Mills and Boon?

Second on the list was my copy edit.  Tick! A 'copy editor' went through my manuscript word for word, line by line and made changes and/or suggestions.  Did you know you can track your changes in a word document? I didn't.  It's very cool. I was able to see who made what changes, whether is was me, the copy editor or my editor.  This was all relatively painless and I even managed to get my changes back to Victoria before she needed them. It was after I sent back my changes that I found out the copy editor was a man.  I was hoping I didn't embarrass him with the more, shall we say, intimate scenes.  Little did I know he wrote a manual on how to write erotica. Now who's embarrassed?

Third on the list? Tick! I have sent my editor my plan for a series and hopefully she likes it, especially book 2 I'm currently writing is number two of the series. :)

I should also be sent the cover art for my book, and find out what title they've decided to go with very soon.  I'm so excited!  I can hardly wait to share it with everyone. So book 1 is now complete and out of my hands.  The next time I see it, it'll be on an e-reader as a proper book. 

Number four on the list. Added. When I find out the publication date I will be planning along with my good, and very helpful friends at Beattie and Forbes Booksellers in Napier (www.beattieandforbes.co.nz) a book launch. I am will be hosting one in Wairoa as well.  I'll let you know the details as they come to hand.

Number five on the list is perhaps the most important. It seems like the house cleaner we were looking for may be closer than I thought and hopefully she wants to start soon...my place is still a mess!

Please check out the Home Page of my website (link at the top of this page) to see the updated blurb for my upcoming book.