Word of the Week: Spicy Edit — When telling a story to friends, you realize that the story you are telling isn’t as cool as you thought it was when you first started, and decide to edit it with exaggerations or lies to make it sound more interesting.
For instance, what I am about to tell you today will be the truth, but I’ll probably cut out all the boring stuff, so you can consider that a “spicy edit.” 
~~~
And now…
Wow, what an exciting Summer this is turning out to be!
You probably all remember that I mentioned a while back how much I’d been missing writing for Silhouette Desire, & that I was playing around with a couple of ideas to maybe get back in the fold. So, soon after turning in the last book of my “Chicks with Sticks” trilogy, I put my powerful, passionate, Alpha male thinking cap on & worked up two outlines for stories I thought were suitable.
Sent them to the wonderful Diana Ventimiglia, who used to be my first Desire editor’s assistant, so we’ve worked together before. (Which is how I know just how wonderful she is. ) Only a short week later, she got back to me saying she loved them, they were right up Desire’s alley, &—sweetest thing ever—where had I been? Awwwww. She was very interested in moving forward with a two book contract, but since I have been away for a while & a new Senior Editor has been put in charge of the line, they needed to see chapters. Okay, no problem. It was actually pretty good timing for me on that because I was still between projects.
So I spent the next week or two working up the first two chapters of one of the stories. I got to pick, so I went with the one I’m calling THE CEO’S SECRET HEIR. Believe it or not, this idea is actually one I had a long, long time ago, back when I first started writing. It was okay, but a couple of people had told me that in category romance I’d “never get away with” some of the elements I’d put into the story, so I shelved it. Well, I’m older & much wiser now—at least where publishing is concerned 
—& I knew that I could get away with just about all of the elements in the original idea. (Never give up! Never surrender! 
) There was some tweaking to be done, merely because I had to make sure it was 100% a Desire. And when it came to the writing, I’ve grown there, too, so no way would I have submitted something from ten years ago. I revamped & rewrote from scratch, but I used the old stuff as a guideline because some of it was still really good & definitely viable for the current tone of Desire!
Jump ahead two weeks & I turn in those chapters. I was pretty happy with them, if I do say so myself. And, gosh, even though it took a little time to wrap my head around writing for Desire again, once I was in there doing it, I had a blast! (I swear, I think I was born to write Desires. 
)
Jump ahead another two weeks & I get a phone call—Diana & Krista (the new Senior Editor of the line…though she’s not so new now; she’s been there nine months, I think) both loved my chapters & made a two-book offer.
Whoo-hoo! Chicken Little Dance! 
(This poor guy is really getting a workout this week, isn’t he? *g*)
I’m feeling slightly overwhelmed because now I’ve got the two paranormals to write for Brava & these two stories to write for Desire, but all I have to do is pace myself & I think I can do it. And I am sooooo excited about all the nifty new books I get to write over the next year or so.
At the moment, Diana is talking about early & mid-2011 release dates for the tentatively titled THE CEO’S SECRET HEIR & A BABY IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S BOARDROOM…something like January & July…but nothing is definite yet. We still have many details to iron out where that sort of thing is concerned.
But for now, I get to dance around, content in the knowledge that I’m back to being a Desire author… And that I get to have lunch with Diana at RWA… And attend the Harlequin party without feeling like a fraud… And look forward to awesome artwork & writing about rich, handsome men who don’t know they’ve got secret babies out there toddling around… 
It’s going to be so much fun, & I can’t wait to take you all along for the ride! 
Boy, have I got some good news to share today!
(Well, maybe not that good, but you know what I mean. 
(Okay, maybe not that good, but again, you know what I mean. 
)
So be sure to drop by & show your support, have a few laughs, & possibly win some pirate booty. 
…my first new title for Silhouette Desire in a couple of years, which I recently learned is going to be called INHERITING HIS SECRET CHRISTMAS BABY. But before I do that, I am going to spare a bit of time to A.) relax & recover, & then B.) catch up on all the holiday stuff that’s been hanging over my head. I’ve given Christmas about zero thought so far, but there are gifts to wrap, cards to send, packages to mail… Oy.
Exciting day! The very first review for 
