When I first started writing, I didn’t set out to write romance. I set out to write stories of sci-fi and urban fantasy.  As I learned my writing craft and took a clear look at the nature of the stories I was writing, I came to understand that the genre I wrote best in was romance. My characters, the focus of my stories, everything about my stories defined them as romance and the sub-genres therein. From there, it was about writing my stories, building my author brand, and learning more about my genre.

Romance is a really big genre.

A few years later, with several published stories under my belt, I can officially say that I’ve been confirmed with the Romance Writers of America’s PAN (Published Author Network) status. This status has the following requirement according the the RWA official site:

Any RWA General or Honorary member in good standing who has earned at least: (1) $1,000 in the form of an advance on a single Eligible Novel* or Eligible Novella** (“Option One”); or (2) $1,000 in the form of royalties or a combination of advance plus royalties on a single published Eligible Novel* or Eligible Novella** (“Option Two”); or (3) $5,000 in the form of earnings for a Self-Published novel or novella (“Option Three”) that meets the definition of Romance Fiction shall be eligible for membership in PAN.

Turns out, I qualified back in 2011 but didn’t complete my application until now. I have the Maryland Romance Writers to thank for educating me about PAN and what it took to apply for it and be confirmed.

It’s a pretty nifty milestone.

I’m immediately diving into edits for Fighting Kat, the next book in the Triton Experiment series. It’s been a long time since Hunting Kat hit the ebook world and I want to be sure that readers of the series are revived and have renewed enjoyment once this full length novel comes out. And so my world is Fighting Kat and the Triton Experiment series right now.

That doesn’t mean I’m completely finished with the London Undead. Oh no, I’ll be right back to it once the next round of revisions is done to finish writing the third book in the series, Survive to Dawn.

Yup, I’m juggling world building. It’s getting complicated. I have a naughty plan and will be executing it with glee. I’m not even sure anyone will notice, but I’ll know they’re there. I call them Easter Eggs, because that’s what they are.

Before I dive back into edits, I’ll leave you with a different crossover. Zombie Fred of Shelter in Place watching the trailer for the London Undead series.

View the trailer below (sometimes you have to refresh the page to see it) or click here to see it directly on YouTube: http://youtu.be/M95qA71OyKc

If you enjoy it, share it please! Post it to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and wherever else you may desire.

There’s a book trailer release blitz going on at various sites, organized by Enchantress of Books Blog Tours. To celebrate the launch of the series, I’m giving away a prize pack.

Giveaway:

“Bite Me” themed items including a spiral-bound notebook, signed cover flat, signed bookmark, and a 1Gb USB flash drive pre-loaded with an e-copy of “Bite Me”.

To enter:a Rafflecopter giveaway

Preorder from Amazon
Preorder from Barnes & Noble
Find it on Goodreads

* Book trailer by Imagine That! Studios

I met lovely, wonderful people at RT Booklovers convention. Spent time with friends I only see one or twice a year. And all of it went by in a crazy blur of many things to do, lots of fun, and far too little sleep.

Frederick Book Festival was much more relaxed. It was a pleasant time to chat with friends and new acquaintances, meet new readers, and even fan girl over an author I only knew via Twitter. Folks, Jodi Meadows is every bit as wonderful as she is on line.

Balticon is a quick drive for me. My first time at this sci-fi/fantasy con and I met wonderful, warm and welcoming, funny people. I met new readers, made new friends, and had a great time. Balticon has a fantastic atmosphere and culture.

I couldn’t possibly name all the awesome people I met, spent time with, or otherwise found nifty. I’d forget somebody. And heck, my mind is drawing a blank as I type.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend Lori Foster’s RAGT as I’d intended. I’m facing a few medical challenges that keep me from traveling for the next week or so. I prefer not to darken anyone’s day with the details, but suffice it to say that I will be sitting my butt in my chair and focusing on my writing deadlines. And trust me, I’ve got several of those to keep me busy.

So, I’m diving into my editing cave. I wish you all a great weekend!

It’s always a great time to dive into science fiction and fantasy with other fans of the genre. I will be looking forward to seeing some old friends, meeting new ones, and in general having lots of fun.

Play find the PJ at Balticon!

When I was given the chance to expand my love of steampunk into another aspect of my interests, gaming, I typed what I hoped was a professional and enthusiastic affirmative then stepped away from my computer to do a very bouncy happy dance. Later, I found out that said steampunk role playing game would be based off the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences by my good friends, Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine.

Nifty note: They didn’t know it’d be me either until they saw the contractual details. Then we all pinged each other online and said, Oh Hey!

This entire project has been one of excitement, learning, and team-building.

Seriously, I’ve written about surrounding yourself with nifty people in the past. And if there’s one thing I want to blog about in this post, it’s that I am extremely lucky to be on a team of nifty, talented people. And what is this project, you might ask? Here’s a bit of an intro:

Galileo Games and Imagine That! Studios have teamed up to bring you an ambitious steampunk project! The Ministry Initiative is a two-part creative endeavor that will not only premiere new fiction from the steampunk world of the Ministry but also present a brand new role playing game from the makers of Bulldogs! and the ENnie Award winning game Shelter in Place. Thrill to the tales in Ministry Protocol, or join in as an Agent in The Ministry Initiative.

So please, visit the Kickstarter and maybe support it. The rewards are unique and many of the items are no longer available anywhere but via those rewards. For example, my Evie’s Gift is no longer available anywhere else. Heart’s Sentinel has also gone out of print and can only be obtained in the rewards of this Kickstarter. I think you’ll find great value in those rewards in addition to supporting a fantastic endeavor. At the very least, take a look at the video and ave a chuckle. You might want to play Find the PJ, but I promise you won’t have to search very hard.

Thanks for stopping by this stop on the blog hop and in thanks, I’m doing a giveaway open to Domestic and International. Pictures are way better than words here…so take a look!

To enter, follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Plus, visit the other sites on the hop for more chances to win cool prizes along the way:

Packing is…almost done. o.o

I’ll be giving away lots of fun swag at my various events and randomly as I scamper around the convention.

In fact, I have a tendency to be at the bar in the evenings for a night cap to close out each night, so please feel free to pull up a bar stool and hang out for a bit. One of the things I love about being at conventions is the chance to chat and get to know people.

This year is my busiest RT yet, with lots of panels and reader events. I’m honored to be on panel with some incredible authors and editors as well as being a host at my favorite RT reader event, the Intergalactic Bar & Grille. I’ve also got my eye on several panels to attend to learn and support my fellow authors. Plus, I’m super excited to dress up for some of the evening “balls”/dance parties.

Panel and Event Appearances:

Book Signing Details:

• eBook Expo, Thursday, May 2, 4-6pm (signing multiple eBooks + print copies of Gimme Shelter, the anthology of the zombie apocalypse)
• Giant Book Fair, Saturday, May 4, 11am – 2pm (signing Heart’s Sentinel)

I’ll be participating in both of RT’s book signings, plus All Romance eBooks will be taking the eBook EXPO global by making any of my titles available to all you readers at home or elsewhere. Just click here or scan the QR code below to visit my Author Page on ARe for access to any of the titles I’m signing at the event.

Come find me at either book signing event to play a QR code game I’ve set up for prizes and free stuff. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to use QR codes, I’ll teach you.

*if you want to be a little ahead of the game, check out your smart phone or iPad and search for QR code apps to install so you can easily scan QR codes using your phone’s camera. There’s lots available for just about every platform (Droid, iPhone, Samsung, etc).

Courtney began her career in publishing at Random House, where she spent a number of years in subsidiary rights sales and in contracts before joining Sanford J. Greenburger Associates in 2005. A member of the Romance Writers of America, she is seeking new voices in women’s fiction, romance, historical novels, and literary fiction. Courtney also looks for non-fiction projects on unusual topics, science, personal finance, business, pop culture, lifestyle books, and craft books. Excellent credentials are a must. She represents a limited number of children’s book authors and illustrators.

Courtney holds a B.A. in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a M.A. in English from The Johns Hopkins University. She prefers to receive submissions via e-mail at cmiller [at] sjga [dot] com.

Courtney also has a blog at http://agentcourtney.blogspot.com/

Aah! *happy dance*

*bouncey*

*muppet flails*

But, I’m not going to post it. Instead I wanted to give you all a chance to win a free copy of the novella!

To enter, take a screen shot where you find it on Amazon, B&N, ARe, Goodreads or any other website and post it in one of these places:

• in comments here
• on the status update linking to this post at my Facebook Author Page
• on Twitter with the #BiteMe hashtag

In a couple of weeks, I’ll choose several winners to receive free ecopies of Bite Me when it releases on June 24th! (So don’t worry if you’re not the first to find it, keep posting because everyone has a chance to win.) Plus, one lucky winner will receive a swag pack from me full of Bite Me themed goodies!

Bonus for creativity too, so if you decide to take a picture of yourself in front of your computer monitor with say, the Amazon or B&N page for Bite Me next to you, I will love you forever plus give you extra chances to win.

Venture out, my friends, watch for the cover and take a screenshot. I hope you like the cover as much as I do!

I’ve been getting a lot of commentary from various random directions, mostly boiling down to, “How do you have the time for all those things you do?”

Time management is a key skill. It’s also a constant work in progress for me. Despite all the recent wonderful compliments – both sincere and yes, backhanded – I’m still not as productive as I have set my goals for myself to be.

I’m working on it.

That said, I’ve also been very cognizant of the time I ask from others. We all have busy lives, life challenges, deadlines and goals. We check in on our friends, try to be good friends ourselves and loving family members. I try to value the time my friends and family give me and even more importantly, respect the time my professional colleagues give me.

When I write an email inquiry to any professional contact, I keep in mind the ballpark statistic: takes about 10 minutes to read, consider, and respond to the average email. The longer the email, the more questions and the more complex they are and it’ll take longer to respond. It’s not just how long it takes them to get back to me, it’s respecting the time they took to respond to me at all when I’m one of many authors they work with through the course of a day. In order to respect their time, and get the clearest response possible here’s a few considerations I make:

• Make sure I know exactly what I’m asking. 
• Make sure the answers aren’t already available somewhere. FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions. Almost every site has them. Read them first. Save everyone some time.
• Write my remaining question(s) with CAC: Clarity, Accuracy, Conciseness
• If I am presenting a problem and seeking advice, I do NOT sit back and expect them to fabricate a solution. I present possible solutions I’ve done the work to put together and ask for their wisdom on which course of action they’d recommend taking. It’s not their job to do my thinking for me.
• I am decisive. I make it clear what the point of my email is and what outcome I’m hoping to achieve. Even if it’s asking for advice, the end goal is to execute a course of action and I already know what the course of action will be. (see above) This way, they also know what I will do and don’t waste time waiting to see. Truth of the matter: they’re too busy, they won’t waste their time to wait and see.
• I am thankful. No matter what, I am sincere in thanking them for their time.

Do unto others…I really hope people contacting me will do the same. Because to be honest, I’m on deadline and I’m scrambling for time.

Here’s a quick, but very handy Time Management presentation for those of you cognizant of both your time and that of others:

26 Time Management Hacks I Wish I’d Known At 20