Release Date! And Other News

I have to build a new section for my Books page. You have no idea how much this annoys me. Not! It thrills me. I have to build a Coming section for the sale to Five Star Expressions I mentioned several weeks back. My 2007 Golden Heart finalist manuscript, now titled WHERE SHE BELONGS, will release from Five Star in December 2011! Clap hands, pound drums, dance insanely. It feels so great to have something new to put on my Books page. It’s been a long four years for “me.” For Cindy. BORROWING ALEX released in June 2007, so by the time December 2011 gets here it will have been 4.5 long years without a Cindy release. Yes, Penny has been picking up my slack, but not everyone familiar with my Cindy work knows me as Penny. Penny has had three releases since 2007, so in reality I’ve been busy writing and publishing all along. However, that doesn’t lessen the thrill of A NEW CINDYPK!!! I am très excited! May this be the start of many more CindyPKs to come.

In other news, I am très sad to announce that Penny’s editor is leaving Red Sage. Theresa Stevens has operated the Editorrent website with Alicia Rasley (of the great workshops and how-to pamphlets and books) for a while now. Theresa is leaving Red Sage to begin a new venture with Alicia. Together, they will write and publish writing guides for authors. Theresa was an awesome editor, and I will miss her. But I’m looking forward to more great writing guides from this incredible team. They’ll also begin offering workshops in September. You can read all about the new venture on their blog.

Congratulations, Theresa and Alicia!

The Bashful Blogger Returns!

I’m back!! In more ways than one.

It’s been a month since I announced my break from blogging. I bet some of you thought I couldn’t do it. You doubted my will. You counted on my addiction. Sure, it’s one thing to give up blogging for a month, but could Cindy really give up Facebook, email, and Twitter? Yes, she can and she did. But there’s a knack to it.

I didn’t check Facebook, Twitter or my email AT ALL for a little over three weeks. But I had help. Yes, I cheated. You see, I didn’t write one word of my WIP during my Tech Break, either. No, I took myself away from temptation altogether. I went to Peru.

Not fair, you cry! Why not announce that I’m going on holiday? Well, number one, I didn’t want to become a victim of one of those websites that lists people who announce on Facebook and/or blogs that their houses are empty for a set number of days or weeks. To be honest, I didn’t really have to worry about that part because, between my two sons and their girlfriends, I had at least 1-4 people staying here at all times. Yes, Allie McBeagle missed me, I heard, but she quickly glommed onto E.S.’s girlfriend. I’ve been back home for a week now, and routines are slowly getting back to normal. I’m hoping to return to the WIP this week, but I’m still in holiday mode, and if it takes me another week to get my creative motor running, so be it. I’m busy catching up on family and business-related (non-writing) activities and responsibilities.

Why did I go to Peru? Well, I didn’t go alone. I took the dh with me. We’re celebrating a major anniversary in August, and this trip was our celebration. Three weeks. Our travels took us from Canada–>Lima–>Nasca–>Lima->Huancayo–>Cusco–>The Sacred Valley–>Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu–>Cusco–>Puno and Lake Titicaca–>and then finally home. We rode four planes in 24 hours from Puno to make it back.

Okay, confession time. I didn’t check my email AT ALL. I didn’t even type Facebook into a browser, but my dh is a bit of a different story, and I took advantage of his weaknesses to check in on the family through his GMail account. His Blackberry stopped working once we left the States (so much for taking it for emergency reasons). But nearly every hotel or B&B we stayed in had Internet access/business centers, and one of our kids was going through a university residence dilemma that of course cropped up two days before we left. We HAD to check in, because it’s a health issue. That’s my excuse. Also, the dh is addicted to email. I swear, sometimes he checked his GMail twice in one day!!! But I, I, who was afeared to check her email in case an editor had sent me something that HAD TO BE WORKED ON RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE, abstained.

Aren’t you proud of me?

I returned home to find one email from an editor. I won’t announce what it said yet, because we’re still in the Cindy’s Asking Questions Again stage. I do have some other writing news, but this post has gone on long enough. Return later in the week to find out my second good piece of writing news.

Both My Liege and I took a ton of pictures and we’re in the process of narrowing down Those That Befit the Photo Albums. I’ve decided to relate our trip through blog posts and will start doing so later this week. So you’ll find lots of Peru piccies, travel advice, and anecdotes, in the next several weeks.

My last piece of news is that I became a great-aunt for the fourth time on May 14th! A day before we left on our trip. Thank you to our niece for ensuring we got to gaze upon our new great-nephew while he was a newborn.

Now…the laundry awaits! What have you been up to while I’ve been gone?