heidi's blog

I can't believe it's Friday again already. Where the heck does the time go?

I've been writing like crazy, getting pages & pages done on my first single title for St. Martin's Press. I am so excited about this book, having a fabulous time, & can only hope that everything I'm doing now makes sense in the end when the whole book is finished. :-p

I've also been working closely this past week or so with my web designer on the redesign of my website. Yes, I know I've been talking about it for quite a while, but we're coming down to the wire now, I swear. We're hoping to have the new site go live over the weekend or early next week. I definitely want it up before I leave for the RWA National conference in Dallas because I'll be handing out little cards to promote my blog & mailing list there & I don't want folks to get home with them, try to check the new site, & go, Huh?

It's all going to be gorgeous, that's for sure. Yeah, there will probably be some bugs to work out, & since we're moving my blog from Blogger to WordPress, it will definitely take me a while to get the hang of the new layout & functions. But bear with me & I promise we'll have some fun. (Wait until you see! He he he he. :-D)

And last but not least, I've been watching some movies. (I can watch & write at the same time, thankyouverymuch.) Watched the end of Sahara, which I'd actually started quite some time ago...didn't love it, but watching Matthew McConaughey is never a hardship; The Cave, which I expected to be bad, but actually enjoyed...it's one of those dark, eerie, almost B-movie horror flicks; & The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which was also better than I expected...that one I thought was going to be a horror flick, but it ended up being more of a courtroom drama-type thing.

Oh, & I'm also working on the galleys of my November Silhouette Desire, CHRISTMAS IN HIS ROYAL BED, going through the story one last time for typos & the like before it goes to press. Hopefully I can catch them all this time, since I've been getting letters about a name snafu in FORTUNE'S FORBIDDEN WOMAN. Did you know that at one point (I want to say on page 34 or 35, but I'm not sure) the hero's name changes from Creed to Chase, then back again? LOL Don't know if it was a typo or a mental thing (since Chase is the name of my hero from the previous book, BLACKMAILED INTO BED), but there it was. I never caught it, & apparently no one else did, either...at least not until the story reached readers. :-P

But what can you do? I guess the good news is that it didn't ruin the book for anyone, & everybody seems to have caught on quickly enough. I have such smart readers. *g*

Do new contracts qualify for a Snoopy Dance? New sales, definitely, but I'm not sure about receiving the actual contracts. After all, those require work. Then again, they also solidify a new deal, so there should probably be a celebration of some kind. If not Snoopy, how about a Woodstock Dance? :-)

The contracts for my new aggreement with St. Martin's Press arrived today. Now, this is technically a three-book deal, which usually means I'd get one contract covering all the details of all three books in the offer. But this time, for some reason I have yet to understand, St. Martin's decided to put each of the three books on a separate contract & to send those contracts in quadruplicate rather than triplicate.

Oooh, this big, wild single title world really is different. LOL

I glanced through them as soon as they arrived, of course--curiosity just would not allow me to ignore them--but after about three pages, my eyes began to cross. That's pretty typical of contracts, too. I have to be in the right mood & the right frame of mind to sit down & really read over them word for word. Until I'm ready for them, it tends to all be just gobbledygook. I recognize my name & the tentative book titles, & that's about it. :-p

But this is exciting. It's good to have the actual paperwork in front of me & know that I haven't been imagining things up to this point. Now I just have to get the books written so St. Martin's doesn't think they make a huge, colossal mistake in acquiring me to begin with. Eeek.

In the continuing adventures of "It's All About Me" Week... LOL

Well, what can I say? It is. I mean, this is my blog, after all. Right? Did you somehow think you'd visit & find me talking about someone else? Ha! Not bloody likely.

But I'll make it up to you, I swear. I've got more giveaways lined up & forthcoming. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe Saturday. Maybe next week. Stay tuned to find out.

Or sign the petition to put an end to my further caffiene consumption. *vbg* (And how frightened would you be if you knew that I've actually had zero caffiene today? Or yesterday. Or the day before. I'm just naturally wound this tight. :-p)

So anyway, here's THE big news. The BIG news. THE BIG NEWS:

Last week, I sold a trilogy of humorous single title contemporaries to St. Martin's Press. St. Martin's Press, can you believe it?!? Okay, I could probably say Annie Oakley Weekly & I'd still be equally hyper, but this has me just super-jazzed.

I cannot tell you what the trilogy is about. Sorry, I really can't; I've been sworn to secrecy. But I can post this little tidbit that my agent came up with, which gives you a general idea of what I'll be working on for the next year & a half of my life:

"In an untitled trilogy of sexy, funny romances by Heidi Betts, an Anything-You-Can-Do-I-Can-Do-Better guy challenges the heroine in a domain sacred to females."

If I can toot my horn for a moment...or, you know, another moment...the trilogy really is awesome & is going to be such fun to write. I hope, anyway, otherwise I'm going to be one bored & on-the-verge-of-suicide little romance author. :-P But all in all, I'm stoked. Very excited about jumping into them just as soon as I get a couple other things cleared off my desk.

So there it is, the big news I've been sitting on for the past week. Now be sure to drop by again for tomorrow's post, which could end up being about someone or some thing other than myself. The chances aren't high, but it could happen. :-P