FIVE DAYS...

Five days from now, Tuesday, October 2, 2012, is a big day for me.  It's release day for WARRIOR'S LAST GIFT, my first ever short story.  My first ever ebook only.  The first time one of my stories has been released for only $1.99!!!  I'm SO excited! 

I can hardly believe it's only FIVE days until WARRIOR'S LAST GIFT goes live.   It seems only a few weeks ago I was sitting at a blank screen wondering how I could ever, EVER, manage to get a whole story into only 20,000 words.

And yet...  It happened.  The characters cooperated [finally!] and the story came together, just as it needed to unfold. 

The thing is, for every book I write, secondary characters appear.  It sometimes feels as though I have no control over them.  They just show up and insert themselves into the story and I can't push them out or the story won't work. 

And every single character that pops up has his or her own backstory. 

I don't usually know their whole backstory the first time I "meet" them.  Sometimes I don't know that story until they've made all their appearances in the book I'm working on and then it hits me.  Often those backstories are the reason a character will get his or her own story.

So it was with Jeanne MacGhie Horvesson.  By the time I finished WARRIOR'S REDEMPTION, I knew I had to do something for Jeanne.  She might be only a kitchen maid, but she'd been such a good friend to my heroine, Dani.  And what had her reward for her friendship been?  Her whole life had been turned upside down by the story's end.   

How could I leave her that way?

Her character nagged at me, even as I began putting together the next book, WARRIOR REBORN [due out October 30].  When I was offered the opportunity to write a short story to fit inbetween REDEMPTION and REBORN, I jumped at it.  Maybe this was my chance to set things right for Jeanne.

The only problem was, I'd never written anything shorter than 80,000 words!  How the heck was I going to pull a whole story together in a quarter of that space???

I sat down at the computer, sweet tea close at hand, and just like that, Jeanne's whole backstory came to me.  And once it did, I had no choice.  Jeanne gave up everything for love and for honor.  She is possibly the most loyal character I've ever known.  Because of that, she and Eric, stubborn and hard-headed as they both may be, deserved their Second Chance at a Happy Ever After.  I hope I've done justice to them in 20,000 words!  :-)

Oh!  You don't have to wait until next Tuesday to order your copy.  WARRIOR'S LAST GIFT is available for pre-order now at Amazon, or Barnes and Noble!

I'd love to hear from you after you read Jeanne and Eric's story. I'd like to know if you believe in Second Chances as much as I do.  

Until next time, Happy Reading!

~ Melissa

Web Site Update

Good afternoon, Readers!

I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on the progress over at my website.

As some of you know, my wonderful WebDiva left the business a few months back and, me being me, I dragged my feet and procrastinated like crazy in doing anything about the situation.  As a result, my website is woefully out of date.

And now, again, me being me, I'm in a typical time-crunch to get the darn thing updated!  [I'm beginning to suspect I only accomplish something when I'm under a time-crunch, but let's keep that little tidbit just between us...].

I'm self-teaching Dreamweaver - ACK!!! - and working through tutorials on the software.  By the end of next week, you should see my [rudimentary] results.  I'm stumbling through the first page first, adding the new book cover for Warrior Reborn.  [I haven't seen a cover for Warrior's Last Gift yet].

So... many thanks for your patience. 

And a reminder...

If you haven't already, SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER now!!!  As soon as the website is tweaked, I'll be switching over to "There's a New Book Coming Soon" mode. 

What does that have to do with my newsletter?  Simple.  By mid-August [just in time for my birthday!] I'll be hosting a series of contests.  One for August, one for September and one for October.  [Warrior's Last Gift - e-book only - releases Oct. 2 and Warrior Reborn releases Oct. 30].  And the ONLY place you can find and enter those contests will be from the newsletters I send out.

What are the prizes, you ask?  [Okay, you probably didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway].  For August and September, I'll be giving away books and swag that I picked up at the conferences I went to this summer.  I find it almost impossible to walk away from a free book, but my shelves are brimming over and I love to share!

For October, just in time for the two new releases, the prizes will include a necklace and earring set I've designed [translation:  I had a picture in my mind] and that's being actually produced by my talented daughter in law, Megan, from Trinkets N Tidbits. [Translation:  Megan tries to read my mind, poor girl].  I'm sure October's contest will include an autographed copy of Warrior Reborn, too.

Okay.  That's it from me for now.  I'm back to the salt mines [which, in this case, is simply this same keyboard, just with the internet turned off].

~ Melissa

Life and Art - All Mixed Up!

Those of you who visit my website regularly or follow me on Facebook likely already know what a geek I am when it comes to research.  I ♥ it so much that sometimes I think research might be my favorite part of writing!  ☺

Well, what's true in my writing life is also true in my real life.  About 15 years ago, I got totally hooked on hunting my genealogy.  The more I found, the more I wanted to know.  The discovery that some of my lines led back to Scotland was what enticed me to go there.  And visiting there on vacation, sitting in the real-life Fairy Glen, is what encouraged me to write that first book in the Daughters of the Glen series - Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband.   

Now I've found an even deeper connection between the genealogy research and the writing research...

After eight books in the Daughters of the Glen series, we decided to begin a Spinoff series - The Warriors.  Characters from one move freely into the other as they all inhabit the same world of Medieval Highlanders.  The biggest difference?  The new "core" family is descended from Vikings who settled in Scotland.  [They're also descended from Norse gods.  And Faeries. But that shouldn't be a surprise if you've read any of my books.  ☺].  See the possibilities for hours upon hours consumed by my beloved research?  Yeah.  I was in heaven with the changes.  Still am.  Currently working on a character descended from the Picts.  Know how little information there is on the Pictish culture????  But I digress.  As usual.  ☺

So... where does the 'art' of my writing get mixed up with the 'life' part?

A few months ago I signed up for a DNA test through Ancestry.com.   It was the kind that traces where your people originate from, giving you a sense of where in the world your ancestors lived.  I fully expected to see the highest percentage [51%] of my ancestors having come from the British Isles -- my research points to Scotland, Ireland and England on BOTH sides of my family.   I had long teased my sons that they actually ARE the Highlanders I write about, so this finding made perfect sense to me. 

What I DIDN'T expect was the location of the second highest percentage [32%].  Scandinavian!!  Sweden, Denmark and Norway, to be precise.  I'd found NOTHING to support that finding... or had I???

The research I'd done for The Warriors series had already shown me how Vikings [from Norway and Denmark] had traveled all over the world, but, specifically, many of them settled on the Northwest coast of Scotland --  in the Highlands, as well as other parts of Scotland, England and Ireland.  

Now I get to tease my sons that not only are they the Highlanders I write about... they're also the Viking descendants I write about!

Life and art -- all mixed up!

What about you?  Are you an avid genealogy researcher?  Struggling to learn more about your ancestors?  Or are you simply an admirer of medieval Highlanders and Vikings [and...um... who isn't???]   ☺  

By the way... if you haven't signed up for my newsletter yet, this would be a good time to do it.  In the next month or so I'll be starting a contest to give away books and swag I've picked up at some of the conferences I've attended this summer.  My newsletter is the only place you'll find information on the contests.  You can go HERE to sign up now. 

Until later ~

~ Melissa

Coming October 30, 2012 - WARRIOR REBORN

Warrior Reborn - November 2012

Isn't he beautiful? 

That's the new cover for my upcoming release, WARRIOR REBORN.  He'll be in stores on October 30, 2012, but he's already available for pre-order online.

This is Chase Noble's book.  That's right... the missing brother of Destiny and Leah from the Daughter's of the Glen series.  Chase isn't missing anymore.  At least he doesn't start out missing at the beginning of the book...

Here's the back cover copy:

Former special ops agent CHASE NOBLE has been searching his whole life for the place where he belongs.  As a descendant of Fae, he senses fate has more in store for him.  And he will not rest until he discovers what his true purpose is.  When he travels back in time to medieval Scotland, he discovers his mission is to save a beautiful woman -- the same woman he is destined to be with.

CHRISTIANA MACDOWYLT possesses the gift of foresight.  Prisoner of her evil half brother, Christiana has visions that show her that only one warrior can rescue her -- a man she is mysteriously drawn to.  The only problem is, he's in the future.  Now she must rely on the magic of a Faerie to transport him to the past.  And when Christiana finally meets Chase, the sparks between them set off a smoldering desire.  But will the magic that brought them together also tear them apart?