Hi!

How are you? Having a good week so far?

I have news….

I’ve been asked a lot lately (and completely understandably so) for an update on THE SON & HIS HOPE and THE BODY PAINTER.

And I’m here to give some updates…along with some excuses.

And they are excuses, no matter how I glamourize them. At the end of the day, my days just aren’t long enough and 2018 has been a little tricky to say the least. I haven’t been as adept as I normally am at juggling and for that I truly am sorry!

Let me first apologise. Because, I’m about to break a promise.

I said I’d have THE SON & HIS HOPE and THE BODY PAINTER out in 2018. At the time, I fully expected I’d have enough days in the months to get both written to a standard I was happy with (but we all know I write LONG books and by long I mean long). But then burn-out happened, remembering how to be myself and not a workaholic happened, and I went away in the caravan with hubby to get my head screwed on straight with a forced NO WORK policy.

We got back into life at the start of October, and I started working on THE SON & HIS HOPE.  The good news is, the book is writing itself and I know the characters so well that it truly is turning out to be something I’m EXCEEDINGLY proud of. The bad news is, every time I started to put in the longer hours, it was as if life itself was like…. ‘Yeah, remember when you said you were gonna have work/life balance? This isn’t it.’ And threw me another curve ball.

On the 4^th October, Bali (our rescue mare who has been a hard case from the start, put me on crutches, and has cycled through every mood under the sun), decided she didn’t want to go for a ride and instead ‘degloved’ her leg through a fence. That word more than adequately describes what she did, and I believed, when I first found her, that she’d broken her leg or ruptured her tendons, which in the horse world,  means the end. LUCKILY, with the vets help, they did a bit of surgery, turned her into a pin-cushion with vaccinations, antibiotics, and pain-killers and wrapped her up to begin a 2-3 month healing period.

The first ten days, I had to go to the paddock twice a day to administer antibiotics and pain-killers. (20 mins drive each way plus 40 mins to drug etc) so there goes a HUGE chunk of time. Then, when her antibiotic course was over, she decided that she’d had enough of her leg being bandaged and promptly started chewing it like a dog, turning a 10 day bandaging cycle into a 2-3 day (sometimes daily occurrence). No matter how tight, loose, tricky, or plain inventive I got, she just wanted the manuka honey wrapped around her little leg and was tenacious. Luckily, she’s five weeks into her healing and the wound is looking AMAZING! Another couple of weeks and she’ll be like new.

Bali chewing like a dog (blurry but naughty girl lol)

Wrapping my own leg to see how tight is too tight to try and stop her chewing it off.

Injured pony, lapping up all the attention

Then, as if Bali wasn’t enough with her wounds, Sonny (my black gelding) decided he wanted some TLC too and got a stone bruise which blew an abscess. He had to soak in some saline solution and get lots of care to ensure he was no longer lame too.

Very excited Sonny with his foot in a bucket.

Meanwhile, while Bali and Sonny were sucking up my time, little Mo (our house rabbit) had a bit of a set back on his other eye (long story short, he had E Cuni-culi from his mother which resulted in her left eye being removed after a very long and stressful battle.) His other eye is now to be protected at all costs and he got a uveitis infection which meant yet more antibiotics, double the eye drops, and another dose of drugs. Needless to say, we were very worried because a half-blind rabbit still has quality of life and he has adapted so well. But a fully blind rabbit…it breaks my heart. So, all attention was spent on doing what we could. The good news is, he has a vet appointment today in an hour to check him over and his eye is looking great so we caught that incident before it could become a disaster.

Little Mo looking so cute

And then, of course…there is me.

I was averaging 5000-10000 words a day for a little bit but then my body decided it hadn’t punished me enough and gave me a sore throat that normally means I’m in for another round of Pneumonia. (oh, and on top of sick animals, I’ve been in for a few tests (CT scans, x-rays etc for re-current pneumonia myself so that’s another time suck). Anyway, luckily, it didn’t progress to the scary realm of issues with breathing but it did turn into the world’s worst flu. A flu that knocked me on my ass, gave me aches, shivers, fever, migraines, and stuffed my head so full of cotton wool I could barely blink or hear.

Normally, I get on with life. And I did—I had to rebandage Bali and eye drop Mo after all, but when I wasn’t helping the animals, I was curled up on the floor begging for relief.

Which leads me to now. The worst of it broke last night and I’m still stuffed up but it’s survivable, which allows me to actually see my laptop screen and type this. However, it also means I’ve been pushed back even more.

2018, truly has had it in for me and YES I’m fully aware all the above are major excuses and I could’ve worked harder while dealing with vets and whatnot, BUT, I’d made myself a promise to be kinder and not stress if the day veered off into territory I couldn’t control which means I’m writing a much cleaner book. However, it’s taking more time than I wanted.

In all honesty, if I wanted THE SON & HIS HOPE to be a duet, the first part could be released now. However, I want it as a standalone and the second half is still to be completed. I wanted it to be a  standalone for a few reasons and believe it should stay that way. A nice big chunky juicy standalone.

The good news is IT WILL BE READY by end of 2018. The bad news is, then Christmas and New Years and holidays play havoc with releases and people’s reading lives SO I don’t know if I’ll release over that time. If I do, I’ll most likely do a preorder so that the book will drop and you can read when you’re free. However, I’m still a couple of weeks away from deciding that.

The GOOD news is, 2019 is already my slave. I have everything planned out with very achievable releases (even with unforeseen sickness and vet issues). And, along with THE BODY PAINTER in early 2019, I’ll be releasing a Dark Romance series/trilogy/duet? (Not sure how long yet) called THE GODDESS ISLES.

This is the first I’ve mentioned of it and don’t have much to share. BUT what I can say is it’s going to be dark, delicious, and I’ve been planning it for a while and centres around a gentleman you’ve already met in THOUSANDS (Dollar Series #4) Sullivan Sinclair.

Here is a quick excerpt. Subject to change, copyright, editing yada yada

“You’ve come to work for me of your own accord. You willingly got on that plane, cashed in that first pay cheque, and embarked on this journey to my island. And yet, now that you know the fine-print, you quit?”

His dark eyes scanned the three of us.

Three new employees.

Three naïve girls.

Three stupid women who answered a cryptic advert for one of the most exclusive hoteliers in the world. So exclusive, there wasn’t much online about the services offered, only the promise that his chain of the Goddess Isles brought all your dreams come true.

His gaze skimmed over the blonde to my left and the red head on my right, landing on me, the brunette in the middle. “You.”

“Me?” I squeaked.

“Do you wish to quit like the other two beside you?”

I shivered as he came closer. “Do you wish to throw away the fortune I’ll pay you, the adventure I’ll give you, the future I’ll pave for you. All because of what? You’re too afraid?” His sneer made my toes curl and tummy burn.

My spine straightened as he came ever closer. “I’m not afraid.”

“Oh?” His head tilted. “Prove it.”

“How?”

“By staying and becoming a goddess.”

 

Long story short, don’t have animals if you’re time poor. Then again, no matter they’ve cost me in deadlines and promises, I wouldn’t change them for the world and I want to thank you guys so much for understanding and being so patient.

in 2019, I’ll also be working on titles already mentioned and some other new stuff that I’m dying to announce. I have to say I’m looking forward to a fresh year and getting back into the mojo of working. Thank you SO much for your patience and understanding and rest assured, I’ll be rewarding that patience with books and more books J

SO…recap.

 

THE SON & HIS HOPE will be late 2018 (end of December 2018/early January 2019)

THE BODY PAINTER will be early 2019

THE GODDESS ISLES 2019

Along with a few other surprises

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!