As most of you know, I’m packing for the upcoming NJRW conference.  (Yes, I’ll be away for a while, but never fear—I have pre-dated some extra-fun posts here in The Dungeon to keep you occupied, as well as leaving Mistress Heidi behind to maintain law & order. :ouch )

I’ve gotten almost everything together, but since I can’t go anywhere without a book in my hand, that’s one of the last things remaining on my packing list.  I’m just finished up Out of the Light, Into the Shadows, which means the decision of what to start next—& take along with me to the conference—is wide open.

This is never good, though.  I have too many options piled up all around me, so when I’m not sure what to read next, I start to feel sort of overwhelmed & schizophrenic.  (Mostly because I want to read everything all at once!)

Suddenly, I’m in a Christmasy mood (gee, I wonder why *g*), so I dug out a few holiday titles I’m kind of eager to read.

Christmas Confessions ~ Kathleen Long

The Christmas Clue ~ Delores Fossen

Do Not Disturb Until Christmas ~ Charlene Sands

Wish List anthology ~ Lisa Kleypas, Lisa Cach, Claudia Dain, Lynsay Sands

They all look good, so I could easily jump on any one of them to start.

But I’ve also been on a bit of a Lori Foster kick & would love to read something else of hers.  Just a Hint–Clint, maybe, or the Jingle Bell Rock anthology she headlines.  (That’s Christmasy, right?)

Then there’s Iris Johansen’s Deadlock staring at me, taunting me.  I do so love her books.  And some more paranormals that I feel like I should read, since A.) Halloween is coming up, so that would be more appropriate than starting Christmas books already, & B.) I’m working on my own vampire story, so they could act as motivation.

The Weddings from Hell anthology, maybe…the Dead After Dark anthology…the next book in Gena Showalter’s “Lords of the Underworld” trilogy…  All ones I’ve been meaning to get to, that look good, that are staring at me, taunting me.

They all do that, in case you couldn’t tell.  Do your To Be Read piles taunt you?  Read me….  Read me… What are you waiting for?  Read me now…  It’s quite disturbing. :stalker

So help me out. What do you guys think I should start next & pack to take along on my trip?  (There won’t be a lot of time to read, I know, but as I said, books are my version of the American Express card—don’t leave home without them! :cantputdown )

Last week, I spent a great deal of time e-mailing back & forth with my editor trying to come up with the perfect title for my next Silhouette Desire.  (Did I mention that it’s scheduled for June 2011?  Yes, indeed—weeeee!. :party )

Of course, I already thought I had the perfect title.  I’d named it The CEO’s Secret Heir, which you have to admit really does rock. :notworthy Unfortunately, the continuity release for that same month is going to have “CEO” in the title, so mine had to be changed. :sadheart

Their first suggestion for a new title was Hidden Heir, Untamed Ex, which I really didn’t like.  I think it’s okay for me to admit that, since I told them pretty much the same thing.  It’s that “untamed” part; it puts me in mind of old-old mean Alpha male titles from the early 80s & just rubs me the wrong way.

But the rest had potential, so I offered a few suggestions of my own. His Ex, Her Secret…The Billionaire’s Secret Heir (the hero was really only a millionaire in my mind, but since they’re making this book part of the “Billionaires and Babies” promotion, he apparently made a sudden killing in the market :genie )…The Billionaire’s Baby Surprise…The Billionaire’s Hidden Heir…His Hidden Heir…The Rich Man’s Secret Heir…Hiding the Billionaire’s Baby…

I can’t help it; I am such a sucker for this type of title. :dog

Though they didn’t love any of those right off the bat, they came back with a variation on my first suggestion:  His Hidden Heir, Her Little Secret.

Okay, now we were on the right track.  It didn’t feel quite perfect to me, but I definitely liked it.  So I turned around & asked if we could reverse the order of the two parts—Her Little Secret, His Hidden Heir.  My reasoning?  Technically, the “secret” came before the “heir” & I thought it flowed a little better.  My editor liked it that way, too, the Senior Editor of the line liked it, & so we have our new bingo! title for the aforementioned The CEO’s Secret Heir.

So mark your calendars.  HER LITTLE SECRET, HIS HIDDEN HEIR will be out in June 2011.

Yay!  Thank goodness my editors are flexible & don’t mind a bit of back-&-forth brainstorming.  And thank goodness I know how to compromise, too.  Well, you know…sometimes. :devil

Happy Sunday, everyone!  I hope you’re having a great week, with lots of happy, upbeat news to be grateful for.

My week has been exceptionally busy…but most of it, at least, turned out to be with good stuff.

First, I’m more than a little excited that Kensington Brava chose to give away e-book downloads of THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS this weekend at both Amazon & Barnes & Noble.  What fun that was!  I got to spread the news that anyone who hadn’t grabbed a copy already could read my very first vampire book for free & then experience the wonderful response as readers came out of the woodwork to share their enthusiasm for the special offer.  (And, no, they weren’t all cheapskates looking for a deal; most of them were readers who had already picked up their paperback copy of BITE, but were delighted to have it on their Kindle or Nook, too, or romance readers who have never read me & will hopefully turn into die-hard fans. :gotcha )

And then imagine how thrilled I was to see BITE shoot to the top of both lists.  With hundreds of free downloads available this weekend, THE BITE BEFORE CHRISTMAS hit #1 in Romance, #1 in General Fiction, & #3 overall in Amazon’s Kindle Store, & #7 on Barnes & Noble’s digital download list.  Whoo-hoo! :dancing

The second bit of good news I got last week is that LOVES ME, LOVES ME KNOT is a finalist for Heart of Denver’s Aspen Gold Readers’ Choice Award.”  Yippee!  I’m absolutely thrilled about this, & it was so much fun to find out the way I did.  Normally, you get a phone call or at least an e-mail about this sort of thing, but I literally stumbled across the information when someone posted a list of all the finalists to one of the loops I belong to.  I wasn’t even paying much attention, just sort of skimming the list for friends’ names.  Then suddenly I saw mine at the very bottom & had to do a double take. :whhhat  Whoo-hoo!

And since good news (sometimes) comes in threes, add to that my supercalifragilisticexpialidocious excitement over the news that KNOCK ME FOR A LOOP has gone into a third printing.  Woot-woot!  This is very good news indeed; it means that the response to KNOCK has been so wonderful, they’ve run out of copies twice. :biggestgrin And I owe it all to you guys! Thank you so much for following the “Chicks with Sticks” series & running out to buy Zack & Grace’s story & giving them such a warm, wonderful reception!  You guys rock, you really do! :party

Not quite as exciting as all the rest, I had my hair done for the upcoming NJRW conference & am quite happy with it.  No, I didn’t go with the “Wolverine” or “Hannibal Lechter”—just a good, old-fashioned redo of my color & a much-needed trim.  But I was really beginning to hate my hair & now I don’t, so that’s a definite plus.  Fingers crossed I’ll be able to do something with it for the conference, but if not & pictures begin to circulate…just pretend we all thought the “Mug Shot” was a good idea, okay? :winkwink

That’s about it for me this week.  Now’s it’s your turn to regale us all with the wonderful things going on in your life!  Do tell… :justsoool