Edits...

Yep, that’s what I’m doing. Putting the final tweaks on Josie and Scooter’s story. Writing in this era has been so fun and I know I’m going to miss these Nightingale girls when I finish my final read through (today!) and zip this story back to my editor. 

I’m also attempting to utilize a few discussed items in many of the wonderful workshops I attended at the RWA conference. I’d much rather sit in my writing cave than market my books, but did learn I need to put myself ‘out there’ a bit more. So…I created an author page on Facebook. If you’re inclined, please stop by and click the like button at https://www.facebook.com/authorlaurirobinson. Thanks a million to all who have already done so!

The Stolen Kiss, a short free read is still up on Harlequin’s website for your reading pleasure—

And The Wrong Cowboy is now available for preorders. 

On the home front, August has been full of birthday parties, with still more to come. This weekend it’s our grandson’s. He turned one the end of July! That year went by fast. As they tend to do. Company is coming into town for the party which means I need to go straighten up the spare bedroom which doubles as my writing cave late at night when I don’t want to keep others awake. Granddog Bear has a bed in there and often joins me, which means vacuuming is a must before anyone else goes in there. Love him to pieces, but a hundred pound dog does shed. And shed. And shed. He has a stock tank in our backyard to cool off in and the other morning, he and the neighbor dog were in it together. Two yellow labs having a pool party. It was a sight to see and made me smile all day.

The morning is ticking by and I’m needed in the 1920’s! Keep smiling and keep your head up. You are a wonderful person who is loved by many!

ACHOO...

Yep, that’s what has been going on around here. So far DH hasn’t caught it, and I hope he doesn’t. The cold weather has kept his shop doors opening and closing. I on the other hand, had to finally and most reluctantly, take to my bed last week. It was one of those nasty bugs that drags a person down. Even Bear, granddog extraordinaire, felt sorry for me and crawled up on the bed to snuggle. Bless his yellow-lab heart. I’m happy to say I’m on the mend, and therefore, running behind. Although I’m making good progress on the third roaring twenties story, where Twyla and Forrest are having a blast flying around in his 1920’s airplane, I have some catching up to do. Thanks goes out to my darling brother Norman for answering a few antique plane questions the other day when I barely had a voice to ask them!

So, a few things have happened during my down-under-the covers-days…

Chapters have continued to be released for The Stolen Kiss on Harlequin’s website. There’s an online discussion happening if you’re interested in joining in. 

The Major’s Wife was released on Saturday, and continues to hang around at the number one slot for Harlequin Historicals at Amazon. Thank you all for being such wonderful and dedicated readers! I so appreciate each and every one of you!

The Wild Rose Press has released The Quinter Bride Series in a boxed set! Now you can get all five stories at once for one low price! I still get emails, got one just today, asking if there will be more books in this story. People want to know about Ma. I can’t say yeah or nay right now, but maybe someday. 

I received the cover art for my May 1^st released, Never Tempt a Lawman. No blurb yet, but I will post it when I get it. 

Other happenings around here include me, on ONE of the coldest days of the year (we’ve had so many below zero days they’ve merged together to form at least a month I’m sure) I managed to lock myself out of my car—while it was running! There I was with fifty pounds of dog food in my arms, and no extra set of keys in my purse. Thank goodness for our wonderful local police department! 

We also had a surprise visit from one of my nieces and her lovely family on Saturday. Bear was ecstatic to have BOYS to throw the ball for him and ran until he collapsed on his doggie bed in pure satisfaction. (He’s been missing his master and number one human who is in North Carolina for work right now.)  And we had a super bowl party with lots of food to capture our attention far more than the game did. I will add the Budweiser puppy/horse commercial won my heart.

Now that I no longer need to have a tissue in one hand at all times, I’m back to writing, which I better get back to.

Have a wonderful week, and rejoice in the little things, some day you’ll remember them as very big moments.

FREE READ

On Monday Harlequin will release the first chapter of The Stolen Kiss. Each day thereafter for twenty days another chapter will be posted on their website. 

If this link  doesn’t work, go to www.harlequin.com, hover over extras on the red menu bar and you’ll see free reads. Click on that.  

The chapters are short, and easy to read on line, and there’s even a comment section, if you are so inclined. 

The Stolen Kiss:

From rivals…to lovers!

The moment beautiful Cassandra Halverson arrives in Tulsa, Micah Bollinger knows she'll be trouble. No sooner has she set up her dressmaker's shop than she starts poaching his customers. Determined to beat Cassandra at her own game, Micah decides to keep his enemy close!

Cassandra wants nothing more than to create a new life doing what she loves and to leave her past behind her forever. But the presence of her infuriatingly gorgeous competitor threatens it all. When an unexpected kiss takes them both by surprise, it's not long before fury turns to red-hot passion!

This story is related to The Major’s Wife, which is now available in paperback! The ebook version will be released Feb. 1^st!

WILL THE TRUTH SET THEM FREE?  

Major Seth Parker knows his wife, and the woman standing before him isn't her. The manipulative vixen who tricked his hand in marriage could never possess such innocence—nor get his heart racing like this! 

Millie St. Clair has traveled halfway across the country to pull off one of the greatest deceptions ever. But with everything at stake it soon becomes clear that the hardest part might be walking away from the Major when it's all over…. 

Our weekend agenda includes an ice fishing trip—for Papa and the granddaughters. Although the fish house is well heated and roomy, I’m not a fan of sitting atop frozen water, warm or otherwise, so I will stay home and work on my next WIP. It’s the third story in my roaring twenties series. Set in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, these stories are about four sisters—each with their own book. The four Nightingale women, Norma Rose, Twyla, Josie, and Ginger, all embrace the freedom gained by women in the 1920’s. However, their father, Roger Nightingale, aka The Night, is one of the country’s largest bootleggers and set on keeping his girls as innocent as a morning breeze. 

Not.

The first story is Ginger’s, a short e-book only tale. (No release date yet, but the edits have all been completed and the story is set to go.) Ginger, the youngest of the girls, takes her future into her own hands and runs away from home—by hiding away in the back of Brock Ness’s truck when he leaves for Chicago to perform on the radio. Brock unfortunately owes Roger Nightingale a good sum of money, so when he discovers Ginger under the tarp of his truck, snuggled up to his guitar case, Brock is anything but impressed.

The next story is Norma Rose’s. Final edits were just approved by my editor today! Norma Rose’s story is a full length one and will be available in print and ebook. She’s the oldest sister and has brought Nightingale’s from nothing more than a dance pavilion to a sprawling resort that caters to those with money to spend. This also includes plenty of gangsters, and where you have mobsters, there’s sure to be a revenue man sniffing about. Norma Rose recognizes Ty Bradshaw as a government agent the moment she meets him, and is determined he will not bring her family down. Ty is after public enemy number one, Ray Bodine, and doesn’t care who he has to bowl over to catch the mobster, including Norma Rose Nightingale and her bootlegging father.

The third story is Twyla’s, the boldest and wildest sister. This is my current WIP. Twyla’s story will also be a full length book available in print and ebook. She loves living at the country’s largest speakeasy and isn’t about to let anyone rain on her parade, including rival night club owner Forrest Reynolds.

The last story will be Josie’s. Another full length book. Josie’s the quietest and most secretive sister. I’m still plotting out her story, so at the moment, all I can say is the ladies aid meetings she’s continuously going to aren’t as innocent as they appear.  

To say I’m having a lot of fun with these sisters and their stories is an understatement. I’m also working on a story set in Cody, Wyoming that has a ghost in it—sort of.

That’s all for now.

Stay happy!

Brrr.....

We are in the deep freeze here in Minnesota, which isn’t all that unusual, but the wind chills have made being outdoors dangerous, therefore schools and several businesses are closed. It also means my hubby is busier than ever. Cars do not want to start when it’s this cold, and the phone is ringing off the hook with people asking him to make house calls. Poor guy. The good thing is—it won’t last long. The weather man is predicting a January thaw this weekend. 

My family is now enjoying all the wonderful gifts they each received for the holidays. One of my sons got the Ancestry software and is really having a ball with it. He’s discovered one of my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great (I think that’s right) grandmothers involved in the Salem Witch Trials. She wasn’t prosecuted and lived for another thirty years or so afterwards. Another son is spending every spare moment in his fish house ice fishing, and the third son has already spent the ‘cash’ he received on tickets for his family to fly to Florida later this month. The granddaughters are loving their Doc McStuffins Check-up Centers and the numerous other toys and gadgets they received. One of my favorite gifts was a new fuzzy and warm throw that matches my overstuffed ‘writing’ chair, and Bear, the ultimate granddog, is greatly enjoying the old quilt I used to snuggle under. (His doggie bed is next to my chair and he waits for me to toss the quilt over the top of him after he lies down.)

I received some great feedback from my critique partner on my latest work in progress this weekend and am enjoying getting to know Beth and Rance, the heroine and hero of this story set in Cody, Wyoming. 

The first chapter of The Stolen Kiss will be released on January 27 on Harlequin’s website. The Major’s Wife will be released in print on February first, and e-book later that month, and Never Tempt a Lawman will be released on May first. 

In the mean time, stay warm, keep smiling, and make 2014 all you dream it can be!   

Here Comes 2014

The fast and furious pre and post Christmas days are now but memories, wonderful memories, as we now focus on the coming of the New Year. I sincerely hope your celebrations were, and continue to be, fantastic. 

Our fun times continued through the weekend. After going to see Frozen on Friday—an amazing movie with utterly spectacular music—all three girls spent the night. I’m questioning what I was thinking when I purchased the futon for the playroom. Snuggling to watch a movie is one thing, sleeping all night with three little girls is a completely different thing. However, come morning, after stretching out the kinks, I realized these days are few and precious. Time goes so fast there soon will be a day when the three of them will want to sleep alone, sharing secrets and giggles without grandma, so until then I’ll cherish the moments, stiff muscles and all. 

Getting back into a writing routine is a must for me now. I’ve started the next roaring twenties story, however, I’ve also started the story that came on strong while we were in Wyoming last fall. Those characters have been very impatient so I had to start getting things ‘down on paper.’ I like working on two stories at the same time. When one comes to a fork in the road that needs a bit of pondering, I can work on the second one. 

Mid January is when Harlequin will put up the free read, The Stolen Kiss, and The Major’s Wife, will be released in February. Next up will be Never Tempt a Lawman, release date to be determined.

Enjoy your final days of 2013! It was a year to remember, as they all are.