First of all, an apology about going AWOL on Friday. Minor emergency kept me away from the blog. However, I can now announce the winner of last Thursday’s Giveaway of VIOLET IN PRIVATE: ANGIE, at Comment #29!

Congratulations! Email me for your prize.

I want to say that it’s been a very busy time around here, but I’m beginning to wonder if there is any time that isn’t anymore. I feel like I’ve been going non-stop for months. It’s all I can do to keep the balls in the air, and of course, I’m still playing catch-up from being sick for most of November. (Seriously, guys, let us not discuss housecleaning at the moment.) Sailor Boy and I did go shopping this weekend, though, and we’re a few steps closer to actually furnishing our house now. I am madly in love with our new furniture. It’s the first stuff we’ve ever really bought together that wasn’t like “we need a bookshelf, let’s pick up a pile of pre-fab shelves from IKEA.” I’ve had this silly stupid grin on my face all weekend, traipsing from store to store in the snow in a tiny mountain town filled with antique shops…  I feel very old married coupley… and I like it.

I’m also getting very excited for Christmas. This is the first Christmas I’m hosting at my house, and I feel like I have a lot to live up to. My mother throws an amazing Christmas — great food, great decorations, great collection of Christmas movies on the TV…

Last week I also turned in the page proofs for Rampant, and saw a final cover for Tap & Gown (which is still scheduled for release in May, despite changes at my publisher).

My books are still trucking along on their way to publication!

And then, and then, here’s a secret: I started a new project. I’m so excited about it. More on that later.

For a more coherent (hopefully) post by me, check out today’s Romancing the Blog.

Speaking of Christmas… today’s giveaway is very special. Like a Christmas present, it’s a surprise: a box o’books. I’m doing inventory in my house and giving away huge piles of books. They are most likely romance novels, but there may be a few surprises in there. leave a comment now!

Is at Romancing the Blog. Come and talk mush with me.

In other news, check out this recent Publisher’s Marketplace announcement:

Fiction:
Debut
Shawn Klomparens’ first novel JESSICA Z., about a self-conscious twenty-something searching for her place in an adjacent future where bus bombings and suicide explosions have become a fact of life, to Kerri Buckley at Bantam Dell, in a two-book deal, by Jack Scovil of Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (world).

Doesn’t that sound fascinating? That Kerri Buckley sure has exquisite taste. I wonder how I can get my hands on an ARC. Congratulations to Bantam Dell, and to the writer for scoring such a talented (and cute) editor.

More Bantam Dell developments:

Fiction:
Women’s/Romance
Jaci Burton’s DEMON ON THE RUN, a continuation of the Demon Hunter series, in which a demon hunter must find and protect the woman who might hold the key to the ultimate demon power, to Shauna Summers at Bantam Dell, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Deidre Knight at The Knight Agency (world English).

Yay, more Demon Hunter books! Way to go, Jaci and Deidre!

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