There is this strange notion that writers write all the time. That they spend their lives in dark little rooms hovering over a key board. I can't speak for all authors, but that ain't me. Most of my writing happens when I'm out during the day, working, running errands, having fun. For me the best thoughts come when I'm not looking for them, and thankfully technology has made it so easy to commit them to memory on the fly: a text message to my self, a voice note, a memo pad note.

I find it amusing that so many writers use this progress calendar thing. Goal=80K words. Progress to date 20%... it would drive me crazy just like my good read reading challenging calculator that always says I'm behind makes me slightly irritated.

I sit down to write when I feel like writing. I write for as long as it feels good. I accept the thoughts that come randomly. And I never beat myself up for writing only 100 words in a day or not writing at all. It should be, first and foremost, fun. Let yourself keep it that way.

Have you all missed me? I've missed the last 3rd Sunday of the month with my reviews. But I'm back!

Just to remind you why I do this...
The great thing about being an Indie author(The Girl on the Half Shell) is I get turned on to some really great Indie books I wouldn't know about any other way than word of mouth. So once a month I'm going to share my favorites. Here are the rules about my reviews:
1. I only review work I paid to read
2. I only share reviews for books I liked
3. I only post my 5 STAR reviews because I want to help others find the best that's in indie world!

So here is my September Indie Books of the month. If you want to end up on my Sunday morning blog review next month, drop me an email. Since I'm about to become a grandmother for the first time, I'd really like some great referrals to children's books and MG. Come on authors, help me build a reading list for baby Hugo!

I have been reading as much as I want too, too busy working on my new release October 6th, but last month I read this terrific debut novel by Fabiola Francisco so I'm doing it alone for her. My recommendation for the month of September 2014: Perfectly Imperfect.

This delightful little GEM got from me 5 STARS. This debut novel is fantastic in every way.

Review: Nothing makes me smile like a cowboy hero with a heart of gold. This debut novel is a delightful old school style romance with the sizzle turned up, giving a page turning freshness to the contemporary novel and tossing in a cowboy in a perfectly balanced blend of genres: contemporary romance and cowboy romance. It has everything romance readers crave. Conflict~a girl troubled and unable to trust. Hope~a hero who is to good to let go of. Mistakes~girl running and trying to ruin her life. Triumph~girl realizing there is no place to run. It takes the traditional theme of "love conquers all" and wraps it in a story unique and new for our modern times. Reminding us of the age old standard of why we love the romance novel: the journey to find love and a life partner is a universal quest, regardless of past, human weakness, errors and doubts.

This is a beautifully written story that left me all smile at the end. New themes in the classic tradition of the romance novel. This is not one of those stale been there read that kind of novels. I would highly recommend this book. Bravo. Well done.

Laughing...it's a biblical quote.“When the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”1 Corinthians 13:10... I don't think even Hemingway would correct the grammar on the word of God, if it even needs to be corrected,  so it's staying as is. There are wonderful themes of love in the book of Corinthians. It's why I selected a title from it.

My new release is something different from me. First, it's historical romance. Second, it is more romantic than sexual. But what I enjoy about crossing genres is that the issues of women are constant over time.  Our struggles, our conflicts, our wants and desires are no different for Lady Meredith in 1813 than they are for Krystal in modern times.

We all want the same thing. To find love. To be loved. To find that perfect soul mate so "the partial" of us will pass away.
The journey of love has not changed through the ages. We are women and we are comprised mostly of love.

I have plenty to do. I shouldn't be restless and bouncing off walls. I have 9 books, 5 with deadlines, in various stages of the edit process, but this always happens when I send a book off for final edit. I feel at loose ends, scattered and as if I don't know what to do next. I'm thinking too much, worrying too much, and that's never a good thing for a writer.

It's been an interesting journey releasing books. I have had some fun. I have had some disappointments. I've met some great people, and I've met a few that have made me sad. But it is a fascinating endeavor and I'm glad I finally decided to embark on this road. It is surprising how much there is to learn after you hit release. I did not anticipate that. Things about how to market your books and definitely about who to trust.

It is a business environment of good, bad, fun, and ugly. That said, I wouldn't have missed this for the world.

You know me, I love to celebrate. So since the first book in the Deverell Series is about to be released, October 6th and the second one going on pre-order with a November 3rd release date, it's time for a giveaway! You all know I love my celebratory moments. Can't let them pass without a party! I want to celebrate some more. So like me onFacebook  because I so want to have my 1000 likes wine and book giveaway! I almost feel like an author. Not quite. Soon. Maybe another 5 books in my journey to release 26 books in 24 months and it will feel official...but I don't know.

I actually stole that like from my character, Chrissie Parker, in The Girl on the Half Shell. Or maybe she stole it from me, since I am the author. I wrote it in a journal when I was 17 flying back from a California beauty pageant.  It was a weird time in my life~good things, strange things, crossroads, triumphs and disappointments~and I definitely did not know where I was going in life.

It much pretty sums up my feelings today. No matter how  pleasant the road, there are times I feel like Chrissie staring the window of airplane: not knowing where I'm going, not knowing where I've been, and not knowing how I got to where I am at present.

During my re-writes for When the Perfect Comes(Release date 10/6), I keep stumbling over lines Varian said and I realize I put a lot of coded message in my books to ME.

It's hard to know which direction to go when you can't ever see the direction you are going. I wonder if other other authors go back through their work and realize that they were all along just trying to tell themselves a few things.

I don't know. It's strange, but me.

I think every romance author has that once special hero. Of the 30 I've created it's Varian Deverell from my new release When the Perfect Comes.  It shouldn't surprise anyone with my love of rockers, that I would go back in time to 1812 and fall in love with the quintessential bad boy of that era: the handsome aristocrat turned nefarious pirate.

I don't know what it is about bad boys, but I can find them in every century.

It reminds me of my favorite Shakespeare quote:They say, best men are moulded out of faults, And, for the most, become much more the better, For being a little bad.

So I've made Varian just enough bad  that he's irresistible and I'm going historical. Why? Because I can. Romance isn't one size fits all and neither are the men  you want to fall in love with.

The news at times these days is very grim. It doesn't seem to matter the subject matter. I don't know if the world has changed or if instant access just makes us see it. Writing is a wonderful way to create order, triumph, and re-affirm the power of love and the belief in the happily every after.

There have been times in my life when I've written like a demon. Produce. Produce. Produce. In the 90s during the first Iraq war. In 2001 after the world trade center. And the past few years as I've watched the world become chaotic again. There is an inescapable human need to find order, I think. And books re-affirm that the times we live through are not so very unique, that there has always been trouble in the world, women searching for happiness and struggling with complex issues, and that in the end of this journey we call life, love is all that matters and what remains once we're gone.

Being an Indie author is a surprisingly complex endeavor. Keeping up every day is a challenge. My gal pal over at the Huffington Post Blog, Rachel Blaufeld, wrote this great piece which pretty much says it all. It's worth checking out: The glamor of Self-Publishing.

I asked her, when you find the fun parts Rachel can you email them to me? I know it will be fun, eventually. I'm just not there yet. I'm at the working to build stage and it's a challenge.

What can I say. It's a lot of work. I didn't know that when I starting releasing my 26 books.  I'm very practical in how I think. I thought: Where can I find a free hour a day to do this?

My 29 year old daughter bounced home for 2 years to do some more college and she brought with her an addiction to Law & Order. Did you know there is an episode of some kind of Law & Order series on every hour of the day somewhere. I'd never watched the show before she stayed with us, and I quickly became addicted.  I have like 9000 espisodes to catch up on because there are 3 different series that each span like 20 years. So every day I watch an episode new to me.

So I thought..hmmm, there's an hour of day I can cut.  It sounded like it would work. It is sort of working. But it's a challenge, day by day, one step at a time. Thank god Real Housewives of Orange county is in break for the season. I have a feeling I'm going to need another hour after I release #5 on October 6th. And that's when Real Housewives gets cut out of the schedule.  Goodbye Vicki. Goodbye Tamara. Goodbye Heather... you are being sacrificed for my dream.

I really don't know where this journey is taking me. Why I'm doing it? Why I felt it necessary now. But I'm having fun thanks to the marvelous authors I've met along the way: Terri Lyndie, Rachel Blaufeld, Salem Archer, Fabiola Francisco, Christy Pastore, Kl Shandwick, my little Imy Santiago and the soon to be released Ashley Erin.

I've made tons of mistakes along the way, laughed them off, kept going, have had my feelings hurt by another author, and made the Amazon Bestsellers Top 100 list for Romance with a book I almost didn't release. I worried it was passe( it's one of my favorites) but I wasn't sure there was a market for it.

It's been a heck of a ride.

Indie author land has reaffirmed some simple truths for me:

1. There are good people everywhere, you just have to be lucky enough to find them
2. There are bad people everywhere, you just have to ignore them
3. There is help everywhere, you just have to ask.
4. Follow your dreams. It doesn't matter how it ends up. Don't let anyone shit on them. You're not hurting anyone by doing what makes you happy.
5. Be good to others.
6. Be good to yourself
7. Life is good if you let it be.

Now back to work for me. Getting ready to release #5 in my journey to release 26 books in 24 months.