Top 5 Reasons I Love Winter

5. The blanket of white snow is so very lovely until people start shoveling & tromping through it.  (I prefer to leave it as-is as much as possible, then see if I can tell which critters have padded across my yard.)

4. With the windows closed, I don’t have to listen to neighborhood noise. (i.e. dogs barking, radios blaring, lawn mowers mowing, kids screaming at the top of their lungs…)

3. I can dry/thaw stuff on the uber-hot radiators in no time flat!  (Gotta be careful with this one, though…there’s a fine line between “thawed” & “spoiled.” :sick )

2. Winter is the perfect time to curl up with a nice, hot cup of cocoa.  And a slice of toast.  And a book.

1. I can use the lousy weather as an excuse to stay inside & hibernate! I mean write! Yeah, that’s it, stay in & write.

Top 5 Reasons I Hate Winter

5. Every five minutes, weather advisories & school closings go scrolling across the TV screen.  I’m sure there are people out there who care about this sort of thing, but I do not…at least not as much as I care to see Michael Weatherly at his full height & volume, thankyouverymuch!

4. With the windows closed, there’s no fresh air & no birds/chippies/squirrels (& the occasional rat) to entertain the cats. :kitty

3. It’s COLD!  I tend to get cold easily, anyway, so winter can be a nightmare.  I am forever adding layers…then shedding layers…then adding layers…

2. It’s COLD!  When/if I do have to go out—which, thankfully, does not happen very often—I have to bundle up like the Abominable Snow Monster.  Seriously!  And have I mentioned that I now have titanium plates in my face that absorb the cold like a sponge.  Not fun.

1. It’s COLD!  My fingers, especially get icy fast.  And have you ever tried to type with gloves on?  Of course not, because it’s freaking impossible!

All right, I’ve gotten that out of my system.  I feel much better now.  So how about you?  What qualities make up your love/hate relationship with the season of snow & ice?

It’s done!  It’s done, it’s done, it’s DONE!

MUST LOVE VAMPIRES, my second paranormal romance for Kensington Brava, is officially finished.  Not yet officially turned in, but the main writing portion of the process is complete & it will be on my editor’s desk soon.  (And in case he’s reading this:  Honest, it will. :angel )

Even though I’ve still got some revising & polishing to do, it feels SO good to have this one primarily done.  It always feels good to get to the end of a story…to know I’m going to meet my deadline, be able to breathe a little easier, to step back & think about all the plot points I included—& any threads I might have left dangling.

This was a great story, too, with lots of fun angles.  Although, I must admit, it was those “fun angles” that knocked me for a bit of a loop this time & made the story more complicated than I realized it was going to be.

You see, MUST LOVE VAMPIRES is a two-in-one collection this time.  (Two connected stories that make up a single book.)  Which means it has two sexy vampire heroes, not one.  And they happen to be brothers with a lot of similarities, at least in appearance.  (Confusing details #1 & 2.)

Then there are my heroines.  They’re related, too.  Sisters, in fact.  But to add an extra complication, they’re identical twin sisters. And did I mention they’re showgirls? (Confusing details #3, & 4.)

So I’ve got these two brothers, trying to keep their vampire tendencies under wraps.  And these twin sisters trying to get close to my vampire brothers…each for a different reason, & each with very ulterior motives. (Confusing details #5,  6, 7, 10…oh, I’ve lost track! :question )

To say there were a lot of plot points to juggle & details to keep straight is the understatement of the century.  Oy. :crazy

But I’ve done it.  Or at least, I think I’ve done it.  Going back through will help me make sure & give me a chance to get everything rounded out & polished up before sending it off to New York.  And hopefully, if I made any mistakes or left out anything pertinent, I’ll catch it during my review.

But I will also be relying on my marvelous Mr. Editor to keep an eye out & make sure I got all my twin/sibling/secret identity/ulterior motive stuff right.  Provided he can make sense of it any better than I did, of course. LOL :ouch