My novella, WHITE ROSE OF AVALON, has been accepted for publication by Awe-Struck. The release date is set for early 2007. Originally, it was supposed to be published by HeatWave Romance (sister company of Awe-Struck), but they decided to close down that site. WHITE ROSE OF AVALON is a sensual romance based on the Arthurian Romances. Here is a short description:

With the land falling into Saxon hands, the Christian monks make a pact with Morgaine, Queen of the Faeries. She promises to give them a High King who will unite the Britons against the Saxons if he takes a queen from the faery realm. She hopes this will restore the Goddess faith, bringing Avalon back to its rightful place and not hidden within the mists.

Morgaine’s lover, Lancelot, is sent to guard the future High King, Artorius. The Saxons are driven back by Artorius’ army and his kingdom reigns until he weds Gwenhwyfar. A love potion meant for Artorius and Gwenhwyfar falls into the wrong hands, sending the kingdom into ruins. Gwenhwyfar is the only hope for the future of Britain, but betrayal, revenge and forbidden love surround her, threatening to destroy the lives of four people.

Booksigning at the Celtic Festival in Flagstaff, AZ

I have some opportunities for promoting OF WATER AND DRAGONS coming up.

On Thursday, June 15th, I will be co-hosting a chat at Romance Studios with Vicki Gaia, a fellow Awe-Struck author. Vicki's latest release is a historical romance set in WWII titled WARRING HEARTS: CRADLE THE LIGHT. The chat is from 9-11 pm EST. Come join the fun! Here is the link to the chat room. Just click on 'I am over 18' and you will be able to join the chat. http://www.theromancestudio.com/chat.php

On Sunday, July 16, I will be signing copies of OF WATER AND DRAGONS at the Celtic Festival in Flagstaff, AZ. I will be in the Hastings booth from 11-2 pm. If you live near Flagstaff, come and join the fun! This is an annual event that has been extended to two days. I love Celtic Festivals anyway so I can't wait.

That is all I have planned right now, but I will probably host some more author parties. Stay tuned!

Happy writing!

Brenda Williamson's Romance Party Yahoo Group

A writer's work does not end when the book is completed. It is a continuous cycle of promotion after the book is released. Setting up reviews, interviews, author parties and chats are a constant part of my time. Doing author parties and chats are new territory for me and I was lucky to have Brenda Williamson's expert advice on how to prepare for a party or a chat. Brenda is the talented author of numerous erotic romances. I will share some of her advice with the newbies out there.

When preparing for an author party or chat, it is best to have an itinerary word doc file ready so you can post everything quickly. Some emails do not convert the word doc correctly so you should turn off the smart tags. To do this go to Tools>Auto Correct Options>Auto Format (uncheck straight quotes with smart quotes).

If you are hosting a four hour party, then posting every 15 minutes is good, but if you are hosting an all-day party, you may want to spread the posting out to 30 minutes apart. Make a schedule according to what you want to accomplish within the time period.

Excerpts should be short so people can read them fast. People love contests so have at least one contest where you give something away. I gave away gift certificates to fictionwise and ebookwise. This is easier because you don't have to ship anything. It might be good to give away items that relate to your book rather than the book itself so that people will buy your book. But it is up to you. I also gave away a couple of signed copies of my book. To make the contest open to everyone (even the people who may come to the party late), it might be better to announce the winners the next day. I had four contests. To make it easier to organize the entries, I created four different folders in my mailbox to move the contest emails from my in box.

Weekdays are usually better because most people spend time with their families on the weekend. Evenings may be better because most people are home and at their computer in the evening. Either way, people will probably see your posts even if they see them later or the next day.

The itinerary helps to keep you posting in the event that people do not show up. Most people lurk, but will still read the excerpts and hopefully buy a book. Just keep on posting. Any promotion you do is a step toward selling more books.

Happy writing and promoting!

Yeah! I finally finished my second book, RavenWolf, which is a sequel to Of Water and Dragons. RavenWolf takes the reader on a journey to an ancient land filled with spiteful goddesses who threaten to tear Ambiorix and Nemu apart. Can their love survive?

I worked every day for two weeks to get it finished and I feel so relieved right now. It is in the publisher's hands. My brain is fried from over use. Now I can take a short break before starting work on my third book in this series, and also work on an erotic romance set in medieval Scotland tentatively titled, Cat's Curse.

I learned my lesson about procrastinating and I will not do that again. I could have finished it three months ago and then I would not have been so stressed out to get it finished. Anyway, I will keep people informed on the release date as soon as I know it.

It is exciting to see where these characters are taking me. There will be two more books for sure. One will be a prequel set in ancient Greece, Britain and Ireland. I need to do more research for that one because I have never written about ancient Greece. I know the basics about Greek mythology, but I am going to read the Iliad and the Odyssey to prepare for it. Yikes! These are not short books. I also have some books by Greek writers on ancient Greece that I will go through. So I have a lot to do. Wish me luck!