Instead of my usual how I'm doing with my writing and life, I decided to post about what I'm grateful for this year. :)

1. My awesome family for being supportive and fabulous, despite a lot of ups and downs this year.
2. My great writing buddies, esp. M&M Writers — Amanda Bonilla, Amanda Carlson, Shawntelle Madison and Sandy Williams.
3. Book bloggers and reviewers and Twitter and Facebook buddies for great book recommendations, wonderful conversations and support.
4. My agent for being awesome and patient.
5. My readers who are just plain awesome (and have excellent taste! :) )
6. Romance Divas and the Indie Romance Ink gang for invaluable information and keeping me sane.
7. Finishing house hunting, which was extremely stressful and took a reeeeally long time!

I'm hoping for a healthier and more productive 2013. (I was sick 9 out of 12 months in 2012.) And I can't wait to move in 2013! :D

• Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win Amanda Bonilla's Shaedes of Gray or Blood Before Sunrise. (It ends when I update M&M on Thursday!)
• Promos & Deals on The Last Slayer
  • Get a 30% rebate from All Romance eBooks (valid until January 31st)
  • Use the E50JAN12 coupon code to get an extra 5% off when you purchase The Last Slayer from Carina Press! (valid until January 31st)
  • Note: If you prefer to buy a copy of The Last Slayer from Amazon, it's 20% off there, no coupon code necessary.
• Don't forget to check out my guest blog posts / interview schedule for The Last Slayer!

May was another fabulous month. My younger brother finally proposed to his sweetheart of 6+ years. (She said yes. :) ) And Carnal Secrets received the loveliest dual review from Stella and Lea at Book Lovers Inc. There's also an author interview plus a giveaway for Carnal Secrets on Book Lovers Inc, open to international readers, so if you'd like, enter before June 11th!

I'm going to be much more MIA during June. The Boy is due June 13…though he can come out any time between now until June 21-ish. I thought I was ready, but it looks like I still have so many things to do (mostly appointments and last minute shopping for baby things, etc.) before the Boy gets here. Soooooo busy!

A few people on Twitter and Facebook asked me to keep them updated on the labor, etc. I'll see what I can do. Maybe Hero Material can hijack my Twitter account briefly? Hmmm. (Unfortunately, he doesn't really get social media…)

Later this year, I'll start doing some giveaways to thank and support fellow writers who have been super nice and helpful to me. So what books are up for grabs?

July: a copy of Confessions of an Improper Bride by Jennifer Haymore. It's a fabulous historical romance, and Jennifer was instrumental in helping me publish Carnal Secrets. Without her, the story would still be languishing on my hard drive.

October: a copy of The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams, an exciting urban fantasy debut by a fellow Magic and Mayhem Writers member.

November: a copy of Shaedes of Gray by Amanda Bonilla, another super urban fantasy debut by a Magic and Mayhem Writers member.

All giveaways are open to international readers, and books will be shipped by BookDepository regardless of your location. (Just to be clear, you're getting an unautographed final book, not an ARC or early copy.) If I can, I'll try to give ebooks to those who prefer e-copies, but I can't guarantee anything because it depends on geo res, DRM, your ereader, etc.

If you want to enter early, just subscribe to my newsletter. All confirmed subscribers get two entries automatically. (And I'll never share your information with anybody else, and you can unsubscribe any time.)

Later, I'll announce other ways to earn extra entries, such as tweets with special hashtags and so on.

P.S. I'm going to give away several copies of my own new urban fantasy, The Last Slayer, as well, either in late September or early October. And again, you get two automatic entries just for subscribing to my newsletter. :)

Hello, everyone. I hope you had a lovely start to your May and a fabulous Mother's Day.

We had a week-long holiday in Japan (Golden Week), and it was so pretty, with warm and sunny weather. Hero Material and I bought a new refrigerator. And sadly enough, I got really excited about it. If anybody had asked me if I'd get giddy over a new fridge 10 years ago, I would've laughed at them. Guess it's my nesting instinct kicking in…? :D

After the heart-pounding excitement of fridge shopping, I spent most of Golden Week working on edits for The Last Slayer. I'm almost done. I need to let it sit for about a couple of days and read it over before sending it back to my editor.

And speaking of The Last Slayer, it's the first book in a trilogy, which Carina Press is calling The Heartstone Trilogy. What do you think about the name? :) (And yes, it's really going to be a trilogy, not a never-ending series.)

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, The Romance Reviews hosted a book interview featuring Carnal Secrets. You can learn more about what inspired me to write the story and so on. I'll be checking comments periodically to answer any questions.

This month, I guest-blogged on The Romance Reviews about other points of view. In it, I discussed the challenges of making antagonists appear not so black and white even while using only one or two points of view (hero / heroine) in Carnal Secrets.

Toward the end of May, the lovely Stella and Lea from Book Lovers Inc. are going to interview me, plus post their dual review of Carnal Secrets. I'll post updates when I know more, get the links, etc.

Also if you're an aspiring writer, don't forget to check out Magic and Mayhem Writer's 4-in-1 critique to benefit juvenile diabetes research. If you want to learn more about our critique style, you can click on the following for details: Sandy, Amanda, Shawntelle, Yours Truly.

On a more personal note, I'm now at week 35. The Boy weighs almost 6 pounds, and he seems very healthy and energetic; he demonstrates it by kicking his mother mercilessly everywhere, including the ribs. ;) Hero Material and I are very excited at the prospect of holding the Boy in our arms soon. :)

I've updated my contact page to let people know that the response time to emails may be longer than usual, given my semi-maternity leave mode. If you're a writer and want to email me with questions specific to writing and business matters, please check the FAQ for writers before doing so. This will save both of us time. :)

If you're a reader, I don't have a FAQ for you. You're welcome to email me, Tweet me or leave me messages on my FB page. I'll try to get back to you as soon as able.

I hope you all have a lovely May! Talk to you soon.

I can't speak for other ladies of Magic and Mayhem Writers, but I'm basically not going to do any critiques this year except for Brenda Novak's annual charity and the Romance Divas giveaway. It's not that I don't want to pay it forward or help others, but I just don't have the time or energy to commit to anything that's going to require a lot of focus. I'm having a baby this summer, and I have a book contracted to come out later this year (for which I owe edits back to my editor) plus another project that I owe my agent.

So if you ever wanted me or the talented other ladies from Magic and Mayhem, this is your chance. Besides, you get to help a great cause: juvenile diabetes research!

Next week, the Magic and Mayhem Writers will blog about how we crit, so you can decide before you bid. We all have different styles when it comes to critting, so I think you'll find the posts useful, especially if you plan to bid on our item: 4 critiques in 1. :)

This week, Magic and Mayhem Writers is showcasing four queries that helped us land our agents.

• The Query that Landed Me an Agent and 3 Tips for Writing Yours by Sandy Williams
• Queries and Query Letters by Amanda Bonilla
• The Great Query Hunt by Shawntelle Madison
• Evolution of a Query Letter by Yours Truly

BTW — If you need help with your query letter, leave a comment on Sandy's post saying so. She's going to pick one person per ten commenters and take a look at their query.