Drum Roll Please!

It's official, school has started!  For us, that means we're getting out our new books ordered over the summer and beginning our lessons at around 10am, after we've played outside for a while. Yep, homeschooling rocks.  With the start of the school year, comes the organization that went by the wayside during the freedom of Summer.  To kickstart the year, I'm going to offer up my news!  Are you ready?  Because honestly, I wasn't at first.  In fact, I think I stared at the computer for a few moments as I tried to absorb the information.  It's official, my book, "Living London"was accepted by Astraea Press!  It will be released early next year! I can't believe it.  Nope, still struggling to grasp it.  (Pinch) yep, it still hurts!  I can't be dreaming!

"Living London" was born from an idea my sister and I joked about earlier during the writing of her own Regency Romance Series.  We laughed about how if we had lived during Regency times we would have probably never married, or at least wouldn't have been "diamonds of the first water."  We had crooked teeth, problem skin, and I had a nose I had to grow into, and didn't until college, a little late for the marriage mart that started around 17-18 for young ladies.  So taking that idea and running, I wrote a book that was from the perspective of a 21st century young woman who was sent back through time to London in the year 1814.  Here's a little blurb:

All the Regency Romances that we love take advantage of this one thing; none of us have ever been there.  We can only see in our mind’s eye the halls of Carlton House or Almack’s and fill in the blanks where the author focuses on the story, beautifully combining the romance of a glamorous era with the fantasy we all crave. But, what if we were to experience it first hand? What if we were thrown into the glistening pool of London’s elite?  Would we still hold to the glamorous illusions built up by fictional characters, or would it be different?  Jocelyn Westin soon discovers that some things just can’t be explained in a book.

Her beloved Nanna’s last gift was written in Sharpie over her favorite scene in her favorite Regency Romance; a promise that she’d find love by going backwards, rather than forward with her life.  Awakening in Hyde Park in the year 1814, is the least of all surprises that begin a journey toward love, friendship and everything she never read about in her beloved books.

I'll be posting more, including segments and introductions to my characters.  I'll keep you posted!  Thanks for going on this amazing journey with me!

It's been a while...

With Summer sending out the siren call of heat and sprinklers calling my name, I've neglected my blog.   The warmth of our Summer's here in Eastern Washington is legendary and it hasn't disappointed us this year.  With a garden overgrowing with abundance and the hose that is almost constantly on to keep our lawn from incinerating, it's been busy and fun!  It's much easier to read when it's nasty and cold outside.    The idea that summer is for reading is lost on me, I must admit. Unless I'm on vacation, which won't happen this year till September, Summer is for splashing, harvesting, hoeing weeds and chasing wet children.  But I do have some news, some news I'll reveal...later.  So keep posted. It's a good one.  I was shocked myself, really.  In the mean time, take a break, lounge in the kiddie pool, get a squirt gun and see if you can get the spurts of water to evaporate before they hit the ground.  That's what I'll be doing.  (After I chase my kids and help them make mud-pies.)

Happy Summer!