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I have never been so busy.

Fall finally arrived!
Fall has finally arrived. My favorite time of the year makes everything easier. I feel the heat as if I’m sporting a rhino on my shoulders, so even though I’m so busy I don’t know what day it is, I’m utterly happy. (Such a lovely feeling!)

I find myself writing at midnight. Possibly falling asleep over the keyboard. Yesterday, I woke up because I’d fallen asleep in a chair, and George, the cat decided my hair was a toy.

I’ve been writing where I can, but every time I declare for Nano, other things press in. So–I’m helping my girl and her hubby pack up their old home and unpack goods in their new home, playing with her new babe, writing and submitting proposals, and buying a beautiful vintage kitchen table for my office. Because your work area should remind you of your childhood kitchen in a 100-year-old house! 🙂

Today, I only have to have the oil changed in my car and write! And I can write in the waiting room while they change my oil! Score! 🙂

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Don’t Stop Dreaming with Kimberly Dean’s Dream Weavers Series

Today I welcome author Kimberly Dean, who’s excited to announce the release of the second book in her Dream Weavers series, Dream Walker. To celebrate, she’s offering the first book, Dream Man, for free for a limited time on Smashwords!

Dream Walker by Kimberly Dean

Dream Walker

Take a walk on the wild side!

Research scientist Shea Caldwell has always had a thing for security consultant, Derek Oneiros. He’s smart, handsome, and built like a Greek god. As attracted as she is to him, though, she’s afraid to let him into her bed – because she’s dangerous when she sleeps.

Derek is known among his brothers as “The Machine,” yet his carefully cultivated control is put to the test whenever he’s around Shea. The woman is as beautiful as she is intelligent, but they’ve always kept things professional – until Derek learns why. Shea is sleepwalking again, but what she doesn’t know is that he may be the only one who can help her. For he is a Greek daemon, and he’s charged with protecting her dreams.

With Shea threatened, Derek makes things personal, and their nights together turn steamy and intimate. He’s ready to battle against the Somnambulist that’s been controlling his lover in her sleep, yet is the night creature really causing all the harm? When Shea’s groundbreaking research notes are stolen, it’s clear that other evil forces may be at work.

Excerpt

He’d let her fall asleep.

It was the first clear thought that ran through Shea’s mind when she opened her eyes. That and the fact that Derek was still with her. His heat pressed against her back, and his arm draped heavily across her waist. They were lying side by side on her bed, her body tucked up close against his.

Yet even as she responded in pleasure, she tensed.

Darkness was falling. They’d spent the day making love, and now the sun was setting. Night was creeping in. She stared at the oil painting that hung on the wall until her nerves began to crawl. Even the littlest thing could set her Somnambulist off—and today had been anything but normal—yet she’d let herself be lulled into sleep.

What had she been thinking?

“There you are,” a deep voice rumbled. The hand against her stomach flexed, and she was pulled more tightly against the big male form behind her.

A muscled thigh slipped between her legs, and Shea arched as a soft kiss was placed on the side of her neck. The intimate embrace had her groaning. Obviously, she hadn’t been thinking. Her brain had been shorted out, disconnected, and thrown right into the bathwater.

How could she have let her guard down like that? The freedom had been fantastic, arousing and intoxicating as fine wine, but how could she have forgotten what had been happening to her? What had happened just this morning?

Had she… Oh, God. Had she done anything in her sleep? With Derek here?

“How long have I been out?” she asked in a rush.

“Not long.”

That rumbling voice was too disconcerting, too sexy. She had to look into his eyes. Tucking the sheet up high under her arms, she rolled over to face him. When she did, her breath caught in her chest. His short hair was mussed, and dark shadows lined his jaw. The bad boy look didn’t fit his character, but it was so incredibly hot she had to press her legs together.

Unable to help herself, she let her gaze drop. She took in the well-drawn lines of his body, his muscled chest and rippling abs, but the sheet sitting low on his hips wasn’t what made her look up again. It was the relaxed look on his face. She’d never seen him so calm, so relaxed, so at ease in the moment. It made her belly warm.

Relaxed had to be good, right? If she’d gotten up and danced zombie pirouettes around the bedroom, he wouldn’t be relaxed.

Or so obviously ready to make love to her again.

Available at:  Amazon │ Nook │ Google Play │ Kobo │ iBooks

Dream Man by Kimberly Dean

Dream Man

What happens when your dream man is real?

Devon must decide if Cael Oneiros is the man of her dreams – or the demon of her nightmares.

 

Available for free at Smashwords. Use coupon code AD78Z at checkout. Expires Oct. 31, 2015. Reviews appreciated!

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Randomly Monday

Random pic of Georgie in a tent! Enjoy!

Lots going on! I’ve been swimming like a–person who likes to exercise by swimming. I tried painting some more of the office. Tooooooo hottttttt! And I’ve been writing. I have a novella due in August, so I have to keep an eye on that progress, but I’m also working on my other two stories.

For some reason, I can never sleep in the summer. I thought I was through with this heinous insomnia, but no–the heat isn’t scourge enough, the humidity doesn’t fill me with enough irrational rage–I need to stay awake most of every twenty-four hours to mull over how much I can’t stand summer. (And a certain alarming tendency toward martyrdom.)

So I’ve been watching cozy, calming TV and movies in the middle of the night. Okay, The Walking Dead isn’t exactly cozy, but–Norman Reedus! And DVR’d episodes of the Great British Baking Show makes me really hungry. I just want a nice, moist sponge, and if it were rolled around some cherry jam… I’ve also binged on Father Brown mysteries. It’s based on the characters (and some of the stories) of GK Chesterton, and it stars Mark Williams (Mr. Weasley). There’s also an ensemble cast I love more and more every single day (night). (Alex Price’s voice alone…) I digress. If you can’t sleep through the night, and TWD isn’t your cup of tea, and you don’t want to end up baking at two in the morning so you’ll have a little bite with your cup of tea, I recommend Father Brown!

And that’s all the random I have for today! (It’s a good thing I don’t mind having always been instinctively an old woman, who’s very nearly a cat lady!)

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Owen’s Best Intentions

Owen’s Best Intentions, September 2015

I have a new book coming out in September, and I recently got the new cover!

I introduced Owen in Now She’s Back, the first book in the Smoky Mountains, Tennessee series, but Owen’s Best Intentions is about him, trying with all his heart to do the right thing when he discovers he has a secret son.

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Blogging on Harlequin Heartwarming Author’s

Low-Country Boil

We made a low-country boil and hung out with friends on the 4th of July. I blogged about the weekend this morning. Come over to the Heartwarming Authors’ Blog and tell me what you did over the weekend. I’ll draw a name in the comments for a new book!

I’d love to hear your stories!

 

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Monday, you’ve arrived too soon!

Maine. How I love Maine.

But then every day is too soon right now. Time is flying by. I have a deadline. I’m trying to balance life and work, but I’ve never been entirely successful at doing that. Recently, I was diagnosed with diabetes, but I found out the hard way by getting really sick, and it was scary. Since then I’ve tried to be better at life.

I’ve written on a girls’ week with my aunt and cousin. That was hard because I wanted to be with them, but I’m a little tired right now, so I’d fall asleep at just the hour I used to fling myself into creating extra pages. So life was easy; writing was the hard part.

I’ve written on a trip to Maine, which was also hard. The trip was planned a year ahead of time, and I made sure I was supposed to be deadline sort-of-free, but then diabetes happened. Still a little tired, but my eyesight began to get normal during that trip, so that made things a little easier, but I’m still behind, and my editor has already been kind about it. And understanding.

I’m writing all the time now that I’m home, with no trips planned.

Here’s the really odd thing. I think I was a little distracted before I got really sick because suddenly, I remember how to put a book together again. I just also realize how much hard work I still have to do on this book. I’m hoping my editor would rather have a good book than a book on time.

So, head down, fingers on the keyboard. Here come the words.

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Randomly, Friday

Don’t mess with my big, green toy!

Friday! Yay! What are you doing this weekend?

I am:

  • Writing, writing, writing
  • Buying a car
  • Exercising
  • Cooking
  • Buying groceries (because I cannot seem to shop for more than a day at at time. I don’t know why.)
  • Writing, writing, writing.
  • Unpacking from girl’s week

And, oh, yes–I will be writing. And writing. And maybe I’ll do a little writing.

Hope you’re already enjoying a fab weekend!

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Two in a Row!

Storm Coming in the Smokies

Almost a record. I’m posting two days in a row!

Every year my aunts and my cousin and I have a girl’s week. We meet in the mountains in Tennessee and do wonderful things. Like crocheting, knitting, watching our favorite shows (always I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show), walking and eating and talking and talking and talking. This past year, I couldn’t make it, so last week, after our family reunion, my cousin and I rented a place in the mountains, and her mom joined us. We missed my other aunt something awful, but those were seven lovely days. I missed them so much last spring, and being with them makes me so happy.

While we were there, I took pictures of the mountains that feature in a new series I’m writing for Harlequin Heartwarming. The first day was all sunshine. I have a photo of that on my Facebook page.

The second day, we had rain. Buckets of rain. While we were out walking, a crack of thunder startled me so much, I nearly toppled off that mountain. I grew up on an island, and the rule at the beach was–if you hear thunder, lightning is within range. Get out of the water and go home. When the thunder spooked me, I suggested we beat feet back to our place. (Actually, I considered getting the car and driving back for my cousin and aunt.) But look at that sky… It was worth the terror!

Mountain Mist Beneath the Clouds

The third morning, we woke to a little sunshine and the mist that gave the Smoky Mountains their name. Do you see it, shining all white between the clouds and the peaks? We were at the top of one of the mountains, and we had an amazing view. Fortunately, in person, the neighboring roofs didn’t feature as prominently. I would have liked an even better photo of the “smoke.”

After we moved to Tennessee from that beach, we lived on a hill that gave me a view of the next ridge from my bedroom. Some fall mornings, the mist would float down that ridge to hang above the winding road as if the trees were cradling white clouds in their branches. I can remember as if I’m looking out that window right now. I wish I had a photo of that, but not sure if it could match the one in my mind.

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Whoa. Longest gap between posts, ever!

Christmas Actually, Coming November 2014

Too long for a proper title, even. And too long to explain all that’s happened. So I’m back with a random post.

I have a new office. My husband built a new, detached garage because after all, a two-car garage just isn’t enough. I’m really
sort of glad because my car has always sat in the driveway, and that’s hot in the summer. Also–the new office. With a door. That shuts. Right now, it’s unpainted with a plywood floor, but I think I’m moving my desk out there anyway. I can paint and do the floor after I finish the deadline that is screaming at me, but I kind of need that lovely, huge room with no distractions and a window open to the blessed fall weather.

One more thing about the new office: I love, love, love the smell of new construction!

Okay, one more thing. I’m wondering if I can take George, the cat out to my office. He enjoys new spaces to sniff and explore, but he also loves to lick stuff. I’m guessing he doesn’t need to lick drywall and plywood.

I have a new book, coming out in November. See it–over there. I actually have a novella, called “The Christmas Gift,” in a book called Christmas, Actually. Check out Melinda Curtis and Anna J. Stewart’s novellas, too. Plotting and planning with them made the story even more fun to write! We had Christmas last spring, and we get to celebrate again soon!

Isn’t the book beautiful? And I love the story. Even writing it, I laughed and I cried–like cried so hard I couldn’t see the screen. But in a good way. 😉  I’ll tell you more about the story soon.

That’s probably enough random for today! I feel as if I’ve accomplished something. I posted on my blog today!

 

 

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Hello, Monday. It’s been a while.

Tennessee Lake

Blowing out the cobwebs around here.

I’ve been working on several books–about 120,000 words since the beginning of February. And, my daughter brought home a cold that has infected the entire family. When you pass our house, it’s kind of sucking in and out with all the coughing.

But I’m back, blogging.

Seems as if I should have plenty to report, and I sort of do. I have two books with sort of pre-cover treatment up on Amazon. Yay! I’m working on the next proposal and I’m waiting for revisions on Now She’s Back, the first in my Smoky Mountains, Tennessee series, scheduled for December. Waiting for line edits on A Christmas Gift, a novella in the Christmas, Actually anthology that’s coming out in November.

I’m also working on a cozy mystery that’s on the back burner, but burning pretty hotly in my mind.

And, summer… How I loathe it. So dang hot. Winter was lovely this year. I thought about a coat once or twice, but being chilly was such a great relief!

Georgie, holding down the laptop bag!

I’ve just been to Tennessee, to visit family. I used to waterski in the lake above. There’s something about being home in the mountains in summer. Even though it’s blazing hot, it’s also quiet in a way only the mountains are quiet, and green and familiar. In the morning, you wade through wet grass because the dew is fulsome. By afternoon–dreaming of wading through wet grass. I loved seeing my family, and I wish we lived even closer.

Mind you, when I got home, Georgie took his spot on my laptop bag. He seemed to feel it might not need to travel anywhere else for a while!

Back to work!

 

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