Blogging, blogging, blogging

As you've probably gathered, I'm not much of a blogger. I enjoy it from time to time, especially when I'm traveling like on our trip to London, but when I'm home, I think I should be doing some real writing. You know, on my books? But when I have a book releasing--the anthology An Invitation to Sin is officially out tomorrow--I feel I have to go leaping around the Internet being perky and saying--though not in so many words--Buy my book, buy my book!!

Er, you won't tell anyone that, right?

Actually, I do like meeting readers on the various blogs, and I enjoy answering the questions and coming up with the blog posts--or I would if it were only easier. But I do get rather tired of talking about myself and my books.

And here's another secret--I have to go back and remember what the story I'm discussing is about. Oh, it's not that I've forgotten. But I've gone through production on a book and written another novella since I last touched "The Naked Prince," so I just have to polish up the brain cells and remember which story this is.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm actually showing up on THREE separate sites, if you can believe it. Stop by tomorrow and I'll have the links up.

An Invitation to Sin

I can't believe it, but "The Naked Prince," my novella in An Invitation to Sin, will be out in the world very shortly. The anthology's official release date is February 1, but books often find their way into the marketplace early. Please keep your eyes peeled.

I'm dying to read the other stories in the collection. I haven't yet gotten my author copies. We checked in a local Barnes and Noble Sunday on our way home from buying furnace filters (yes, I live an exciting life), but it wasn't there yet. My husband always orders a few copies from online retailers sort of as a test; we think BN.com might be shipping the book soon.

"The Naked Prince" is most closely tied to The Naked King which will be out in June. In the sort of crazy way publishing works, I wrote the King before I wrote the Prince, and then I had to go back on copy edits and try to be sure the two stories were consistent.

In honor of the anthology's release, you'll see me around the blogosphere more than usual in the next few weeks. Tomorrow I'll be over at The Romance Dish talking about whom I'd most like to sit next to at a Regency dinner party.

We survived!

Last Friday, these two buses pulled up in front of our house and disgorged 80 or so hungry swimmers and coaches. They were supposed to arrive at 5 pm, but plans changed and instead they came at 4:15. Fortunately, the caterer arrived early, too, so all we had to do was remove the covers from the food and stand back.

We had a few nervous moments. According to the caterer's menu, we'd ordered enough food for 120, but the trays started to run low alarmingly fast. The seniors went first, and I'm not sure any of the chicken parmigiana was left for the juniors let alone the sophomores or freshman. But there was other food--lasagna and two other pasta dishes--so everyone got something (and we gave the freshmen first crack at the desserts). We even had a little pasta and salad left over.

The locusts--I mean swimmers--crammed into all the available space: chairs, sofas, stairs, floor--but they did all fit into the house. (Another big sigh of relief.) They seemed to have fun, were very polite, and left about 6 pm. Then husband and I cleaned up and collapsed around 8:30.

Saturday we drove up to Baltimore to watch the swim meet and hand off some of the leftover waters and Gatorades for the swimmers to have on deck. Third son and his fiancee showed up to watch for a while, and we gave them the leftover brownies and cookies. After the meet, swimmer boy went off to the next hosting house--this one in New Jersey--and we went off to check into our hotel before meeting third son, fiancee, and second son (who'd just gotten back to Baltimore from New Orleans after a week of pro bono work) for dinner.

Now we're back home. I admire people who can entertain with grace and poise. I don't know if it's a skill I didn't master in my youth or a talent that doesn't mesh well with my basically introverted personality, but...Let's just say hubby and I are very glad we did it, but also very glad it's over. Now I have to get back to my "real" world and get to work on the next book.

But first I think I'll just sit here and stare out the window for a while.

Cleaning, organizing, panicking

This Friday, we are hosting a dinner for 80 college swimmers (son #4's team). Panic is beginning to set in. How on earth are we going to fit 80 people into our smallish house? I'm pretty sure we can't repeal that law of physics for the evening--you know, the one about no two bodies can occupy the same space at the same time.

In an attempt to make more space, I've been cleaning and packing things away. This is actually a good thing. I was never into the fall and spring housecleaning thing, but doing a thorough vacuuming, dusting, and sorting should probably happen more than once a decade. (Unfortunately, this is not much of an exaggeration.)

So now you know what I'm doing this week.

Back to the routine

The two kids who were home for the Christmas holidays have returned to their respective institutions of higher education, and Mr. M is back to a regular work schedule, so I'm back to my routine. I love having everyone home. I love seeing them and talking to them...but I love getting back to my usual, boring pursuits, too--getting my exercise, eating my yogurt and apples for lunch, knowing my coffee cup will be in the cupboard when I want it.

What's on the calendar for me right now? Getting through the King page proofs, polishing the novella one more time before I send it off to meet my January 15 deadline, and cleaning and organizing the house before the college swimmers descend January 14.

And how does this blog fit into my routine? My goal is to post at least once a week, probably on Monday. If other blog-worthy...or sort of worthy...thoughts strike more often, all the better. I'll also be posting to other blogs around the release date for An Invitation to Sin (February 1!), and I'll put a link to those posts when they go up.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year--can you believe it's 2011 already? I just signed a contract for a trilogy that has me delivering the last book in 2013--crazy, but great, of course. And my next Naked noble, "The Naked Prince," is out in just one month. It's a novella in the anthology An Invitation to Sin with Jo Beverley, Vanessa Kelly, and Kaitlin O'Riley.

Here's hoping everyone has a happy, healthy new year--with lots of great reading.