Crazy Week and It's Only Monday

I spent the weekend filling boxes with loot from last year's Kickstarter. It will be a relief to have my living room and office back. DH asked why I wasn't sitting on the floor, which has been SOP for years when I was mailing Christmas presents to out-of-state nieces and nephews.

Needless to say, I dared him to sit on the floor. He quickly learned that if a human is on the floor, it's a signal to Princess Bella to drag all her toys over to you and place them in the open boxes. Some of my backers almost ended up with Kongs.

I'm still putting together the paperback for Queer Eye for the Super Guy. The re-write of Spells and Sleuths is finished and edits have started. And I need to finish the two short stories that were the part of the Kickstarter stretch goals so the audiobooks can be recorded.

There are surprises in the works for the Justice series' tenth anniversary. I really, really hope the readers of that series love the things in the works. My artist is doing some wonderful artwork for the projects.

Best of all, I had my annual mammogram this morning. For the last five years, it's been like sitting on a grenade. Has the cancer taken hold in the other breast? I've already had a lumpectomy, several needle biopsies, and a core sample. 

To my relief, the radiologist said everything looked good. Which means I'll be off tamoxifen at the end of June and I can drink during a writers' retreat I'm going to in July in Oregon. Like I told a few friends, it's not that I'm a huge drinker. I just don't like choices being taken away from me.

Actually, it's the second best thing. Genius Kid and the Grandpuppy are on their way here. Which means it'll be a Cincinnati chili and Long Johns week, too.

My Subconscious Wants a New Project

I had a bizarre dream last night of an alternate Star Trek universe. Captain Kirk was a vampire. The Trill had become a warrior race. Seven of Nine was the Borg Queen, and Jadzia Dax convinced Seven, her ex-lover, to help the Trill and Vampire Kirk to protect the Vulcans from some strange, unknown race trying to wipe them out. Oh, and Vampire Kirk finally declared his love for Spock and tried to convinced him to let Kirk turn him into a vampire so they could be together forever.

This is Subconscious's way to convince me to move on to a new project. Which I will as soon as I finish Queer Eye for the Super Guy and the two stretch goal short stories for the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse Kickstarter campaign. I also need to ship out the reward boxes for the last three Kickstarter tiers. Everything should be done by the end of May. *fingers crossed*

Then, THEN, I can write The Books of Apep series.

But damn, Subconscious is impatient!

Just a Note to Say...

I'm still alive, but things are busy at Casa Harden. Hopefully, the edits will be done for Death in Double Mocha later today/early Tuesday morning.

Then I need to jump back on Queer Eye for the Super Guy since Jeremy's in the middle of a murder investigation of an up-and-coming designer he took a shine to. (More of a possible protege. Jaye's firmly committed to his husband.)

Hope to have some more news by the end of this week!

Update on Releases

I tried to finish both Death in Double Mocha and Queer Eye for the Super Guy last month. Getting sick at the beginning of March set me back nearly 50K words for the year to date. In my attempts to catch up, my back started giving me fits.

Now before anyone starts on my case about exercise, I do get up frequently for breaks, and I take Princess Bella for may short walks during the day.

No, my problem is stress. And when I'm stressed, it settles in my hips and lower back. The teeny, tiny tendons and ligaments torque, the muscles spasm, and anything short of deep pressure point techniques doesn't relieve the pain. And there's no point of getting a pressure point massage if I don't deal with the source of the stress.

Therefore, I called Amazon on Monday and politely begged them to let me push back the release of Queer Eye for the Super Guy for a month, and Cecilia, the representative I spoke with graciously allowed me to do so.

Those of you who preordered Queer Eye should have received a notice from Amazon by now about the delay. The last thing I want to do is put out a half-assed product.

As of this writing, I have roughly three and a half chapters left to write on Death in Double Mocha. It will of course be sent to the Soccer Moms of the Apocalypse Kickstarter campaign first, but it will be available to the general public in June.

Queer Eye for the Super Guy is a little over a third of the way finished, but the idea's have been in my head for so long that the writing is going fairly quickly. It will be released on May 12th.

 

Things Are Going to Be Quiet on the Blog This Week

I'm trying to finish both Death in Double Mocha and Queer Eye for the Super Guy this week. That will be followed by a lot of editing. I'm excited for both books to be released soon!

Once the paperbacks for Death in Double Mocha arrive, I can start shipping the last of my Kickstarter reward packages.

In the meantime, I'm in the initial stages of putting together a sooper sekrit project for 2025. Okay, I'll give you a hint--it'll be the Justice series 10th anniversary.

More cool stuff is coming your way!

I Need Some Help Deciding on a Cover!

My cover artist came up with three versions of the cover for Queer Eye for the Super Guy. So I need a little help in picking one.

The first one, aka COVER A, is based on my original request. I told her I wanted two men and  rainbows because Jeremy, Leo, and the LGBT+ cast of the 888-555-HERO takes center stage in this story.

The second one, aka COVER B, has the title toned down a little bit, but still has lots of color.

The third cover, aka COVER C, takes the title down to an almost metallic silver color.

Tell me what you think in the comments below, or you can send me a private message through the CONTACT ME! tab above.

Thanks for your help!