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've been sort of teasing some of you with it. But now it's official. I recently signed a contract with Carina Press to publish The Last Slayer, an urban fantasy with romantic elements.

Unofficial blurb:

Ashera del Cid is a demon hunter who takes great pride in her work, but when she kills a demigod's pet dragon, the hunter becomes the hunted. Her only potential ally is Ramiel, an untrustworthy, sexy-as-hell demon who destroyed her home. Now the two must work together to battle dragons and demigods…and the chemistry sizzling between them.

I'm super psyched since I really love this story. It has a smart-mouthed heroine and lots of immortal hotties with secret agendas. Oh and a hilariously subservient dragon. My agent pitched it as a “fun, fast read — think cotton candy and roller coaster rides, but with swords, magic, and supernaturally hot sex”. It's tentatively scheduled to be released sometime in fall or winter of 2011.

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.

mood: optimistic about the future
currently working on: All the King's Women outline; I have it almost figured out…!
currently reading: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

2008 was long and difficult yet surprisingly interesting and rewarding as well.

On the writing front, the year started off with selling a book to Samhain so that's always fantastic. But the biggest accomplishment is of course signing with an agent. I also left a critique group, but I think in a way it was inevitable. I do miss many of the writers I met there. Oh, and I have a new pretty website. :)

On to the financial matters — my mom lost a ton of money thank to subprime. I wish she'd listened to me when I asked her to sit tight for another year before investing in the funds she was interested in. When you hear about banks raking in record profit from issuing more and more subprime loans, which are by nature very risky, you know there's something fishy going on, and that it's going to fall when weaker real estate markets start to lose their value one by one. I started the year with a ton of debt, but my venture investment paid off right before Christmas, so I'm starting the year with no debt (except the mortgage I have on my house) and some extra cash.

Talk about strange since I never expected to get any payment from the investment, given what's going on in the market.

My writing goals for 2009 are:

1. Complete two manuscripts. I think I figured out what's wrong with All the King's Women and Nine. W00t!
2. Read 52 books. Fiction, non-fiction, it doesn't matter. I just need to read to get more ideas and to recharge. I noticed that I didn't read all that much during the latter half of 2008, and it really affected my creativity.
3. Take time off! I'm absolutely terrible at taking time off and relaxing. I always feel like I have to work or else. Of course this is unsustainable, and I do burn out and can't write for a month or two. Very unproductive. So I'm forcing myself to take two days a week off, along with major holidays, etc. Oh, I'm also making myself go to the gym three times a week at least.
4. Read 2 how-to books (this does not count toward my goal #2) or take two online classes. I already signed up for a January class on how to not sabotage myself. I'm also eying another class on line edits because I think I can benefit from it.
5. Write 2 blog posts a month. I'm terrible at blogging because I just forget at times. So I resolve to do better this year. :)
6. Stop looking for and/or seek crit partners / groups. It's really not that I think I'm too good for feedback, but it takes a lot of time and energy to find a good crit group, and I've decided (after a long and careful consideration) that ROI would be better if I stick with the beta readers I have right now and spend the time I would've used to find good crit groups / partners on reading and taking classes. (BTW — this doesn't mean I don't want any CPs or anything if one happens to come my way, but I just won't be actively looking for them either.)
7. Evaluate and identify all not-helpful-anymore loops, groups, etc. Resign from them by Jan 31. This is a must since I decided that I don't have time for them. I stayed with most of them because you “have to network” but I had to wonder networking isn't about being in a group that sucks up all your time but gives very little in return. I should know better (or else my management consulting professor would send me a stern note saying she taught me better than this).

How about everyone else? How was your 2008 and what are your goals for 2009?

I'm done with revising The Last Slayer for the moment. Which means Agent thinks it's ready to be shopped around, and I'm happy with it, too. I can't thank her enough for all the suggestions and notes on how to make the story better. I really think the entire story hangs together so much more cohesively now.

Coincidentally (or otherwise) Colleen Lindsay blogged about revisions / rewrites and ego landing. I'd never heard the phrase “the ego has landed”, but it's from a blog post by Del Rey Editor-in-Chief Betsy Mitchell on revisions / rewrites. It look like there are many writers who are very resistant to revisions / rewrites, even if they're going to make the story better, because they're so convinced of their own brilliance or something.

I hope I never become one of those writers. Agent, May and Hero Material have my permission to smack me hard when my hat becomes too snug for my own good.

Last night, I finally wrapped up The Last Slayer revision and emailed the entire manuscript to Agent. May threatened to send ninjas after me if I continue to sit on it and tinker with it, so it had to be done.

I'm feeling accomplished since it was the most difficult round of revision I've ever done. But at the same time I think it made the story better. Hope Agent feels the same way as well. (Not about the difficult part, but about the it making the story better part! ;) )