Today is the official launch day for my debut book, A Firefighter in the Family. To celebrate and get the word out, I’m blogging at three different places today:

Romance Bandits
Wet Noodle Posse
Writers at Play

Come on by!

Also, be sure to check out my new contest detailed on the Homepage of this site. You could win lots of fun goodies.

I mentioned I saw my book on a store shelf for the first time on Thursday but that I didn’t have a camera with me. Well, last night (or I should say very early this morning), hubby and I trekked to Wal-Mart again because he wanted to get the new video game, Spore, which released at midnight last night. On the way out of the store, we stopped by the book section and he took my photo with the book. Whee! The fact that it was nearly 1 in the morning explains the lack of makeup and hair product in this shot.

Yesterday was an awesome day. I was in the kitchen doing dishes when I heard the UPS truck pull into the driveway and the driver honk her horn as she does when she has a delivery for me. On my way to the front door, I kept thinking, “What in the world? We haven’t ordered anything.” But when I saw the distinctive four diamonds on the side of the box, Harlequin’s logo, I knew what the box contained.

The author copies of my first book!

When I got the box inside and opened it, I nearly cried at the sight of actual books with my name on the cover. To hold one in my hand after all the years of trying to get published, of rejection letter after rejection letter, of doubting that I had what it took to make my dream come true — well, it was overwhelming. I’m tearing up now just reliving it in my head.

I had to wait until hubby got home from a business trip to take my picture, but here I am with some of the copies of A Firefighter in the Family. Oh, and pardon the bad hair. I’m waiting to get a decent haircut until right before I head to San Francisco.

Okay, I can’t post the image of the actual cover for my September book, A Firefighter in the Family, because I’ve not received the image and permission to use it from Harlequin yet, but Mary found it on Amazon this morning. I love it!

Click here to see it on Amazon.

It’s also up on Barnes & Noble’s site here.

The people on the cover really fit the characters, Zac and Randi, well, and I’m so glad they included the Black Lab, Thor, because he’s an important character too.

I just checked my MySpace account, and I’m up to 408 friends. I’m trying to friend fellow authors and readers who may enjoy either or both my adult romances and my young adult fiction. It’s a little more than 13 weeks until my first book, A Firefighter in the Family, hits shelves, and I’d like to be up to at least 1,000 friends on MySpace by then. So if you have a MySpace account (or know someone who does who might be interested in my books), zip on over to my MySpace page and add me as a friend. When A Firefighter in the Family is released on Sept. 9, I’ll draw a name randomly from among my MySpace friends to receive a free copy.

First off, my pal Mary’s book Hot Shot is out from Samhain Publishing today! In celebration, she’s guesting with us over at the Romance Bandits blog. Swing by if you have the chance.

In my writing news, I’m working on my AAs (author alterations) on my first book, A Firefighter in the Family. This is the last time I’ll get to look at it before it goes to press (squee!) and thankfully I’m not finding many edits. I think that’ll make my editor happy. And I like to keep my editor happy. I’m also working on ideas for my option book (what will hopefully be the first book of the next contract). I want to get that partial written before I head off to the Romantic Times conference later in the month.

For some reason, our Internet service has been intermittently wonky lately. I REALLY don’t want to change service providers because I’ve got screaming-fast cable Internet, so I hope the wonkiness doesn’t continue. For when it goes on the wonk, I’m glad there’s a Panera Bread with WiFi nearby. I spent 3 hours there yesterday! And since the hubby was out of town, I grabbed my dinner from there on the way out. According to him and his brother, Panera is “chick food.” 

The big upheaval of the last week, however, has been a surprise room re-do. We have a large-ish house, especially for two people, so in the winter we close off the back part so we don’t go broke with heating bills. Natural gas = not cheap. So we don’t go back there much in the winter and keep the temperature at about 55 so the pipes don’t bust. But the other day when hubby came home from a business trip, he zipped in the back door to use the back bathroom. This bathroom happens to be where the hot water heater resides. You see where this is going, don’t you?

Imagine the hubby’s surprise when he opens the door to find the room soaking wet and, I kid you not, mold growing up the walls. He says, “What happened back here?” I, clueless, wander back to see what he’s talking about. My mouth falls open. The water heater evidently had a leak but not so much that we didn’t still have hot water. The room was dripping from the ceiling, the border was peeling off, the mirror had come loose from the water, fallen and broken all over the sink and floor. The sink cabinet was ruined. In a word, it was DIS-GUST-ING!

The next day, I called contractors and got bids. Thankfully, one was able to start work last Friday. Since the room had to be gutted anyway, we decided to convert it to a laundry room. Looks like it’ll be done today, so tomorrow I’ll post some before and after shots for your viewing pleasure.

I have been burning up the keyboard on my laptop this past week. Starting last Sunday through the end of today, I’ve written 127 pages. I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel on the first draft of this book. My main goal for this week is to finish the first draft by Thursday. Other goals for the week ahead:

1. Announce the winner of the book giveaway here tomorrow. Remember to check back to see if you win if you’ve posted a comment on this blog during the past week.

2. Start work on my line edits for A Firefighter in the Family when they arrive.

3. Work on some task force responsibilities for the RWA board.

4. Work on a freelance article for the Romance Writers’ Report.

5. Exercise at least 30 minutes (if not more) every day.

6. Various domestic duties such as an exciting trip to the recycling center and the cleaning of two bathrooms that mysteriously get dirty every time I turn my back.

On my old Blogger blog, I used to put what I was currently reading in the sidebar. In the absence of that option, I’m going to start putting it down at the bottom of posts each time I start a new book.

What I’m Reading: Trouble in Tennessee by Tanya Michael