Penultimate

Here we are, in the second-last month of the year, two days away from the last month of 2011. What are you doing? Starting your holiday preparations or already hip-deep in the flood? Still eating Thanksgiving leftovers or selecting your New Year's hot spot?

As I tie up loose ends from the TRS Thanksgiving party and pound out the last 3000 NaNoWriMo words, I'm given to reflecting what a strange time of year this is. It's a time to finish. But it's also the jumping-off point for new beginnings.

Penultimate means second-to-last. It's not the end, but it is the harbinger of it, the voice in the wilderness. Yet what is after the last? Maybe We're done with this. What's next?

What's next for you? Hopefully something fresh and fun.

Thanksgiving Party at The Romance Studio--Last Hours!

Great giveaways! Just a few more hours to enter (to midnight EST 11/22/2011)

Here are my offerings:
First Course Bite My Fire plus giveaway!

Main Course Biting Love Freebies plus giveaway!

Dessert Course Biting Me Softly plus giveaway!

Flash Title Poll

Please help! Biting the Rainbow needs a new name. I've brainstormed some alternatives--which one do you like best? Vote on your top choices for the next 33 hours. I'll submit the top four to my editor. I can't guarantee which one will be picked but I love learning what you like!

Here's the preliminary info:

Musician and sausage queen Junior Stieg lives in an attic garret, kept there by love and duty to her parents and their store. But she dreams of big cities and bright lights. When a show headed to Broadway comes to her small town, she joins the pit orchestra, with the promise that if the musical does well, it will take her to New York with money left over for the folks.

But a kidnapper is threatening the show’s young star. To save the production Junior must join forces with the star’s dark, secretive bodyguard Glynn, whose big body, sapphire eyes and lyrical Welsh baritone make her forget both duty and dreams.

Fierce as a warrior, enigmatic as a druid, vampire Glynn Rhys-Jenkins has searched his whole life for a home. Junior's get-out-of-town attitude burns him—while everything else about her inflames him. He’s waited eight hundred years for true love, but her future is New York and his is Wales and they’ll only have these two weeks in Meiers Corners.

Until a sensuous, insidious evil threatens the very foundations of the city, and Junior and Glynn must face the truth about themselves and what home and love really mean.

Warning: Contains explicit vampire sex (biting of various body parts, multiple climaxes), ka-click ka-shing violence, cheese/sausage wars, viola jokes and—shudder—pistachio fluff.

Biting the Rainbow Under Contract

I am thrilled to announce that Biting the Rainbow, book four in the Biting Love series, is now under contract with Samhain Publishing!

Biting the Rainbow is the story of woodwind doubler and sausage queen Junior Stieg (introduced in the freebie Oz Bites) and tracker-bodyguard Welsh vampire Glynn Rhys-Jenkins (introduced in the freebie Biting Dracula) as they fight to keep young musical star Mishela out of the evil clutches of Nosferatu. Also features Nixie and Julian, and a whole hoard of viola jokes!

Release date to be announced but it may be as early as second quarter 2012.

New Year Changes

Starting in 2012 I'll be offering a First Tuesday monthly contest. Since so many of my awesome loyal readers have the whole Biting Love series, I'll offer each winner either the choice of an ebook from my backlist -or- a $5 gift ecard (Amazon or Samhain). Sweet deal! But there's more.

Just for my readers I'll be doing a preview giveaway in December! I'll only announce it to my blog followers, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers. So be sure to stop back December 6.

In 2012 I'll also be adding a second monthly feature--your choice! Please add your input to the poll and help me pick the best one.

• Easy recipe--I love eating but am a bit impatient on the cooking side. I've got some easy recipes that I love to use and thought you might like trying them.
• Happyscope--I admit I enjoy reading horoscopes. I really like the ones that offer hope for the future or positive motivation. This feature would be a dozen monthly atta-girls/atta-boys.
• Hot picture--guys and couples. Web-friendly so not red-hot :)
• Writing craft tidbits--I have a huge stack of index cards, each with an important item I've learned about writing. I'd love to share them with you!
• Suggestions! I can't add them to the poll gadget once it's up but I'm always open to new ideas.

NaNoWriMo 2011 Starts Today

Okay, so for me it'll be Na1/2NoWriMo, because my books end up closer to 100,000 words. But it's just as fun! I'll be pumping out words for the next Biting Love novel, tentatively titled Beauty Bites. Join me as a buddy or just stop by to say hi!

Coming next month--a special Biting Love readers-only giveaway. More details next week.

What will the heroine of Beauty Bites be called? The results of the poll: Synnove! But there were almost as many votes for Alexis, so I'll be giving Synnove a sister, who may just show up in a book down the road...

Thanks to everyone who voted! And thanks for your great comments. I'm in awe of how creative you all are!

Final results:
Alexis-9
Cynthia-0
Dakota-1
Isabella-5
Jansie-1
Liv-1
Natalia-6
Synnove-10
Ulrika-1

Awesome suggestions:
Amanda Ryder (Mandy)
Ameren
Ingrid
Kari (Karita)
PersephoneTory (Thorir)