Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Vacations

Do you ever dream of vacations you know you are never going to take? You just love to dream about them? That is happening to me more and more.

Alpha Wolf--Book Video

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Here is the video for Alpha Wolf--made for my by the amazing Sandra who does all of my videos. If anyone would like her contact info to make videos let me know! Anyway, I just thought I'd give you all a taste of Alpha Wolf this morning!

Rebecca

Its Tuesday...

And that means I am at Paranormal Romantics. Come and join me!

We're Snowed In

Hello everyone!! Welcome to Day #2 of my being stuck in the house. Well, not just me...it also includes my husband, my mother-in-law, and my 3 children (boys) under 6 years of age. I know we are lucky and blessed. We have power and food and HEAT.

But I can't help but feel a little bit of disappointment as my two older boys were supposed to take a ski lesson today, their first, which would have been great along with my husband (who was raised in Louisiana) and was going to embrace our winter sport!

The problem is not so much the older two. They can amuse each other with their new Christmas toys, we will take them outside sledding once we get moving. But the baby gets stir crazy (he is 15 months old and while he is cruising has not taken the first 'real' steps yet...neither did his oldest brother until he was about this age.) and it becomes really, really difficult to be stuck in the house with him without even the ability to go to to the grocery store or to visit my mom.

As we were stuck indoors yesterday with him, this will be day 2 o Rebecca Takes On The Entertainment Of The Baby Adventure.

All of this is compounded by the fact that my muse has come to play and would like to really be non-stop writing my Work In Progress.

But what am I going to do? We have almost 2 feet of snow and that doesn't count the drifts, which continue. We had hurricane force winds last night and although they came twice with snow plows the road and our driveway don't look like they've been worked on at all.

Hope wherever you are you are warm and snug and entertained!

Best

RR

Happy Holidays to all of You!!

I hope you are all well, happy, and with the people you love!

Best

Rebecca Royce

Release Date!

I'm thrilled to announce that Alpha Wolf: The Westervelt Wolves Book 5 will be releasing January 10th, 2011. Doing a happy dance over here!

How close is too close?

Today I spent some time reading Initiation. The final version had been sent to me in PDF and I sat down to read the whole thing again. I actually started to cry because I knew what was going to happen to the heroine and she didn't know.

I think I might be too attached.

Have you ever gotten this close to one of your characters?

You Should Take Voice Lessons

New Cover Goodness!

Driven

The Warrior Book 2

Coming Soon from Decadent Publishing

But look first for Initiation, The Warrior Book 1 coming February 2nd, 2011

Release Date!

Initiation will be releasing from Decadent Publishing on February 2nd, 2011. I can't wait for all of you to meet Rachel and start this journey with us!!

Big News...

I am very pleased to announce that today I signed a contract for the second book in my Young Adult Series, entitled Driven, with Decadent Publishing. I am so thrilled to continue on with this book.

I'm doing a happy dance~~

The Heat

When we came home last night after having a wonderful dinner with my parents, we were feeling no pain. Really good food combined with great wine and even better company had us feeling on top of the world at 10:45 PM.

That is until we stepped in the house and discovered we had no heat. Earlier in the day I'd had the Boiler serviced and for some reason one of the two pilot lights had gone out and would not relight. We ended up having to call someone to come and fix the heat. He arrived at midnight.

To say that we are exhausted would be an understatement but we really felt that given that children are so little we couldn't leave them here in the house as it got colder and colder all night long.

We've been told that given that the boiler is over twenty some odd years old that pieces of it are starting to break and sooner rather than later we are going to have to replace it.

Great. (Yes, that is sarcasm you hear in my writing.)

My mind is tired so I will probably not even make an attempt to write today.

Best to all of you

Yesterday

Yesterday was a great day. It was my husband's birthday and my 3 year old had a holiday show at his nursery school before his school shut down for vacation until the new year.

In the morning, I got up and ran out the door to buy a dozen bagels for my son's holiday show. I wanted to get a dozen plain bagels but by the time I got there (think 7:15 AM) they had sold out of plain bagels. Apparently someone had come in and bought 6 dozen plain before I got there. This irritated the heck out of me when they told me it was going to be another ten minutes before they had any more plain baked. I ended up buying a bunch of other types of bagels and truthfully I don't think anyone minded at the show.

Then I rushed home and the kids and I gave my husband his birthday gift (a stock pot he wanted) before we all ran out the door to do our morning routine. My mother came with us to the holiday show, which we all loved since its very rare that she's in town to see these little things. My son froze like a deer in headlights when it was time to do the show but it was really cute and I enjoyed being there. He's proud of himself like he'd stolen the show and I'm thrilled for him.

Later that night, we had dinner with my parents and my husband's mom before we all had cake. It was a really fun day and I think my husband enjoyed his birthday even though he had to work.

As far as writing goes I have been a little slow this week, which is okay. I just finished a major writing endeavor and its possible that my muse just needs a few days to breathe. But I continue to write the next Westervelt book and I'm feeling good about things.

Time for me to get moving this morning--I do have 3 children who might like to see their mother.

Best to all of you

Happy Birthday Darling!

Today I am going to be very brief and just wish my dear husband, the love of my life who brought me the other three loves of my life, and my best friend Ralph a Happy Happy Happy Blessed Birthday!

We all love you so much, you are the center of our universe!

Love to you always,

Rebecca

New Cover Goodness!!

I am so excited to show off my new cover for Alpha Wolf: The Westervelt Wolves Book 5. Isn't he yummy? This is Michael's story.

Like a lot of authors I know, I wait anxiously for covers. I have been incredibly lucky in mine. This one was designed by cover artist Anne Cain, who has done all of the Westervelt covers for me.

Best to all of you

RR

Friday Night at the Nutcracker

So in keeping with the theme of holiday traditions, I got to go friday night to see The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, which is a holiday tradition for my friend Jessica. She goes with her family every year. Except, this year her family couldn't attend, which meant that her other friend Walter and I got to step in and have a fabulous evening. (Thank you Jess!)

The evening began with really good food at restaurant, a dart uptown as we realized what time it was, a run through Lincoln Center, before we arrived at the Nutcracker. The show was superb. The first half, I thought, went faster than the second half but the dancing was amazing in both hours.

We had a great time and I was so touched to join Jess in her yearly viewing of the Nutcracker. It was an incredible night and I'll never forget it!

The three of us outside (it was cold!) Lincoln Center after the performance.

I tried to take a shot of the Nutcracker Sign. I didn't get the whole thing...not much of a photographer, I'm afraid.

The fountain at Lincoln Center.

Six Sentence Sunday

So for this weeks Six Sentence Sunday I'm giving you the last taste of the sequel to Initiation, my Young Adult series. This is from the last chapter in the book and as I've stopped new writing on it. Next week I'll be on to something new.

Here it is, from the last chapter.

I bent down until I was at his eye level. “Dad? If you do this for me, I won’t ever ask you to participate again. Do you understand? This will be the last time, the last thing you ever have to do for me.”

He raised his eyes to mine. I knew he loved me—as much as a broken man who’d never been put back together correctly could—and I wasn’t surprised when he nodded his head.

Rebecca Royce

Holiday Blog Rush

If you're just happening upon my blog today, then welcome. I am part of a Holiday Blog Rush. The picture above is of my husband and I by the tree at Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. I live very close to NYC and my husband and I are trying to create memories for the kids that involve visiting the city because to me that is what the holidays are about--tradition and family.

I love being a writer and I'm fortunate beyond belief to be allowed to do what I do every day. So although this is a brief post for the blog hop today, I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you to all of you out there who stop by today and who have stopped by in the past. It's because of you that I get to live my dream every day.

Make sure you visit everyone http://booknibbles.com/holidayhop/

Best

Rebecca Royce

I Finished

I finished my Work In Progress. Well, the new writing anyway. What will I do now? Several chapters from the work are in the hands of my writing partner (who also writes YA and is incredibly super talented) and when she's had a chance to point out to me all the things I can't see in my own writing (thank goodness) then I will take the work and do one large edit. When that is finished I may or may not send the book out to another author friend who can Beta read it for me. At that point, when its gotten the 'go ahead' I will submit the work to the publisher for consideration.

Its a long process but it works for me.

In the meantime, I have new writing to do on the next Westervelt Wolves book.

So close!!

I am so close to finishing the end of my WIP...

Wish me luck. I want to finish today!

Saturday Night--Lots of Pictures

I think that sometimes it is nice to be a tourist in your own area. We don't do it enough because we get really busy. But last Saturday night we were able to go have dinner with dear friends, Roy and Meaghan, and then walk around New York City for a while seeing all the Holiday stuff that the tourists come to NYC to see but the locals, because of the traffic and crowds, often stay away from. I tried to take pictures of the whole thing. It was really, really cold and I took most of the pictures as we walked around so they're not all wonderful. Also, I'd like to thank Roy and Meaghan for being such good sports with my camera antics! (captions are below the pictures and Blogger gave me a hard time so the order is all over the place.) And just in case you've never been to NYC, these places are not all next door to one another. They're not huge distances but we walked quite a bit in the cold night air. It was really fun.

I couldn't stop thinking of the song from the musical Annie with the lyrics: "Until it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building!"

The tree at Rockefeller Plaza

Our friends, Roy and Meaghan, in front of the tree

Ralph and I in front of the tree

A shot of the tree as we approached it.

I thought this was awesome. They built a Kate Spade bubble store outside of Bryant Park. I do love Kate Spade...It was very hot inside.

A shot of Bryant Park

A good picture of the tree at Bryant Park

The tree and the fountain at Bryant Park. There is also an ice skating rink I didn't get a good shot of because of the crowd.

The front of Macy's!

This is the view when you come out of Macy's on 34th street. I just love NYC in the winter (well all year) so I took this shot.

People were driving around giving away Chanukah candles and celebrating the holiday. Above is the Mitzvah Mobile.

Inside of Macy's, which was so dressed up for the holiday. It was 10 PM at night and the store was packed and beautiful.

Roy and Meaghan being really good sports when I insisted on taking all these photos!

The Macy's sign!

This is Ralph (my DH) and myself in front of the windows at Macys on 34th. This year the windows, which were all AMAZING (they moved and changed), depicted the movie Miracle on 34th Street. We loved looking at them.

Again, Ralph and I in front of one of the windows.

Is there a Santa Claus? And then the words keep changing. It was really cool.

This was the the scene of what Macy's looked like as we approached.

This is the madness of Time Square around the Holidays

So that was my saturday night and why New York City features so frequently in my writing.

Best

RR

The Eighth Night by Sandra Sookoo

So, I’m pleased to say that my book was not the only Hanukah Romance released yesterday. My good friend, Sandra Sookoo, had one released as well. Hers is called The Eighth Night

Take a look!

Blurb: Who says Christmas is the only holiday in town?

After removing himself from family gatherings and his mother’s domineering influence for years, Eli Goodman finds himself once again drawn into the chaos that is his home life. One afternoon, on a spur of the moment decision, he decides to bring the pretty cashier from the local MegaMart to his mother’s house for their annual eight day Hanukkah celebration. At the very least, it will shock and temporarily quiet his mother's pestering. But Brooke is more than she seems and he will soon find himself thinking of the hard-working orphan in ways he never imagined.

Brooke has recently decided she’d like to shove Christmas and its materialism into her cash drawer. Yearning for something more from life, she takes a chance and accepts an invitation to dinner from a customer in her register line. What she finds with his interfering and warm family could very well be the missing element she’s searched for, not to mention Eli is the sexiest guy she’s seen in a long time. If the light of the Hanukkah candles bring them together, she could be the first person in modern history to see what Judah Macabee wears under his tunic.

Excerpt of Chapter One

And So It Begins

The insistent ringing of his cellphone shattered the peaceful stillness of the pre-dawn hour. With a groan, Eli Goodman rolled over, ignoring the noise.

The cacophony continued, possibly with more vigor, which could only mean one thing.

His mother was on the other end of the line and if he didn't answer, the whole of the Indianapolis area would hear her scream of frustration.

Damn. "Ugh!"

Scrabbling for the phone, he moved his hand over the bedside table until his fingers closed over the device then he pressed the green button. "Ma? What's wrong?"

Diane Goodman clicked her tongue and the sound went straight through him, just as it had during his formative years. "Why do you always assume catastrophe is imminent when I call?"

"Because it's five AM on Saturday and I have blessed little to do, so why else would you call?" He sank into the warm nest of his pillows and blankets, keeping his eyes closed in case the call would be short and he could regain sleep.

"Ah, my life is now complete. My only son has decided to mock me at the start of the Festival of Lights. What have I done to deserve this? My only goal on this Earth was to make my children happy, and this is how you repay me."

Oy. My mother the martyr. Being the youngest of five, and the only male to boot, it came as no surprise to listen to the speech his parent had undoubtedly trademarked with the government or at the very least, every synagogue in the tri-state area.

"Sorry, Ma. What do you need that will make your life the pinnacle of success?"

"You, at the community center this morning at nine for rehearsal. I know you've forgotten."

"What?" His eyes flew open as cold dread shot down his spine. He sat, rubbing a hand through his thick curls, one of the many attributes his female relatives said made him worthy of a Hollywood movie. "What are you talking about?"

She blew a breath and he could well imagine the eye roll that probably accompanied it. "I volunteered you to stand in as the Maccabee in the play, of course. I thought it would be a good way for you to reconnect with the family and your community. You don't come to temple anymore." Guilt was heavy in her voice. "You rarely come home for a meal either. If I didn't give birth to you myself, I would swear you weren't my son."

Pregnant silence followed, most likely in the hopes that he would think about what he was inflicting on his poor, harried mother.

Eli switched on the lamp and blinked at the sudden brightness. "Ma, I'm not doing the play. I'm not a ten year old you can push around anymore. Besides, your friends ogle me when I wear that outfit." He shuddered to think of the short tunic that bared his legs and sandals that did nothing to cover the skin.

"So, now you're ashamed of your body or is it my friends?" More tongue clicking. "I labored for twenty-two hours with you, young man. Doesn't that deserve respect?"

As if he were suddenly transported back to pre-puberty days, his stomach hurt from his mother's words. She could guilt a cat into opening its own can of food.

"No, Ma. It's just I'm not sure how I feel about our faith. The whole thing is so ... overbearing." Thinking about the intensive family gathering gave him cold chills and sweats, much like the flu. And the endless questions from countless aunts regarding his single status.

Oh, the humanity.

"You listen to me, Elijah Goodman. I refuse to be embarrassed by not having you, my only son, at the celebration this year. You'll do this and you'll like it. I am telling the family you'll be in the play on the Sixth Night. Do not disappoint me."

He stared sullenly at his bureau, knowing that no matter what he did, he would always disappoint her. "But--"

"But nothing. Stop by the house tonight and you can tell me how everything went. Bring ice and potatoes. Dinner's at six sharp. Don't be late."

The dead air on the other end of the line brooked no arguments and felt as cold as Diane's unblinking stare.

Eli threw the phone down and slumped against the pillows as a headache loomed.

His mother, the bully, pushed every member of the family around until they did what she wanted out of sheer exhaustion. His life was no exception. Heaven only knew how many women he'd gone out with during recent years thanks to her meddling and constant haranguing about his lack of marital success.

And now this. The annual re-telling of the Maccabee story with its prerequisite fight scene. Usually, one of his uncles filled the role, but this year his mother had most likely finagled and reordered the cast so that he, Eli, got the supposed honor of the lead. How long had it been since he'd stepped foot into the community center let alone the synagogue? Too long to own up to. Probably since this time last year.

The family legacy and attachments turned him from the religion as much as the stuffiness and saga of it all, but in the Goodman family, personal preferences didn't matter when Hanukkah came around. You either put up or shut up and listened to countless versions of the same stories the family had told since he was a little boy--only now the participants in the tales were braver, larger and more dangerous.

Eli rubbed a hand along his jaw. The next eight days would last an eternity.

Releasing December 6^th from Liquid Silver Books (http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com)

To see the rest of Sandi’s holiday releases this year as well as everything else, go to her website (http://www.sandrasookoo.com)

LIGHT ME UP RELEASED!

I am so pleased to announce that my Vampire Hanukah story has been released today by Silver Publishing. It can be purchased here.

Here is a blurb:

Ruth has been a vampire for sixty-five years after being assaulted by a vampire during World War II while her family hid from the Nazis. One night, she is drawn to a house where they are celebrating Hanukkah and the candles are burning in the window. There, she meets a man, Benjamin Fox, who is immune to her vampire charms. Ben is thirty-five years old and dying of a heart problem he's had since he was a child.

Together, they will form a friendship that could be so much more if either could allow it. But when Ben is about to succumb to his illness, Ruth must decide whether to give in to his wishes and make him a vampire too. She is, he's decided, his ultimate Hanukkah gift.

I hope you'll check out Ruth and Ben. I really loved writing them!

Six Sentence Sunday

Hello and welcome to this installment of Six Sentence Sunday. Below you'll find some more lines from my current Work in Progress, which is a Young Adult book that is part of a series I am writing.

Enjoy!

I woke up as the bed jostled next to me. My eyes flew open and I gasped.

“Deacon, what are you doing?”

He rolled over onto his side. “My tent is cold.”

I shoved at his shoulder. “You can’t come and get in bed with me because you’re cold.”

I’d only been asleep for maybe two hours. My head hurt and I was in no mood to deal with this.

All is Well....

The baby is fine!!

Today I am going to attempt to Holiday Shop as I move on from yesterday's ordeal. The little guy was so brave....

Not Much Today

So, today my baby who is 14 months old, will be having a surgery on his ears. They put tubes in the ears to help the fluid drain. He has been getting a lot of ear infections and the fluid doesn't drain between infections. It's finally reached the point where we have to address it. One of his older brothers had this surgery and the other one had his tonsils/adenoids removed. Clearly, we've spent some time doing this type of thing before.

But it never gets easier for me. Never.

To make matters worse, we have to be at the surgery at 9 AM and he is not allowed to eat/drink anything before hand. Ever tried to tell a 14 month old they can't eat?

So that is where I am. And Why I am Sure I won't be doing much of anything else today.

Best to all of you. Thought and Prayers are appreciated!

RR

Who do you stay up reading?

I had a ton of stuff to do yesterday, and I did very little of it. Why? Marjorie M. Liu's new book in the Dirk and Steele series came out and since i'd pre-ordered it, it arrived magically on my Kindle.

I stayed up very late reading the whole thing.

Who do you stay up late into the night to read?

It's Tuesday...

And on Tuesdays I'm over at Paranormal Romantics. Come say hi.

So you want to write a novel...

The End of the Book

As I round the corner with my Work in Progress, I find the same thing happening to me that always happens to me--I become obsessed with finishing it. Gone are the long days of the middle of the book where I question myself every other second and in their place are days that don't have enough hours in them for me to get my writing done.

Does this happen to anyone else?

Six Sentence Sunday

Six Sentence Sunday...

Here is this week's installment of Six Sentence Sunday. It is from Driven, the second book I am writing in my YA series.

But the Vampire who approached me made me lose my breath. I blinked a few times to make sure I saw it correctly. I’d have to be blind not to, since it carried one of the small lights the Warriors always had on. It illuminated the night around us like a beacon of death.

How long since I’d last seen its clothes? Simple, yet always clean. Brown pants, grey sweatshirt, brown shoes. How long since I’d last heard it utter my name in the way only he had been able to?

Cute Little Funny Story

So yesterday afternoon, I was trying to do a little writing. My 3 year old comes up and he is watching me. After a moment, he sighs: "Mama, won't you ever hit the little K?"

Apparently that is his favorite letter!!

Best to all of you!

RR

The Day After...

Well, the turkey has been eaten, the pie consumed, and my husband is sick with a sore throat, a stuffy nose, and an upset stomach. What does that mean for me? It's going to be a long day with the kids stuck inside because of the cold, nasty weather we're having.

The kids are uber-upset. They had wanted to go see Tangled today and to spend the day with some of their friends this afternoon. None of that is going to happen, unfortunately, and the only person in the world they can think to blame is me. That's okay, I suppose it is my job to take blame for the world going awry for them. They don't really understand the concept yet that Mommy doesn't control everything that happens around them.

I wish that I did.

Anyway, for those of you that will be getting out of the house today, I wish you a Great Black Friday!

Best to you

RR

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

I Did Something Dumb

Someone had told me that walking/running barefoot was better for your back so I attempted to walk barefoot on the treadmill. It was dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I have given myself huge blisters on both feet and I am in a tremendous amount of pain.

Yeah, I was really, really dumb and I won't be doing that again.

Hope you are all a lot more comfortable than me!

It's Tuesday...

And on Tuesdays I'm at Paranormal Romantics! Come say hi!

RR

Love Beyond Loyalty

Here is a sneak peak of my book Love Beyond Loyalty

Enjoy!

Six Sentence Sunday

Hi everyone,

And welcome to this week's addition of Six Sentence Sunday!! I've had a great week and I hope you have too!! This weeks entry comes from the next book in the YA series I am writing. The first one, Initiation, was contracted by Decadent Publishing. I am awaiting a release date. This is from Book 2, tentatively titled Driven.

“You should be sleeping.”

“I can’t.” I rubbed the back of my neck at the throbbing pain that had started there. “I’m too wound up. Besides, I’m not convinced we’re safe even having a fire. We’re going to bring every monster in the area to us.”

Lots of Blog Fun This Season.

I am going to be participating in the 12 Days of Christmas Blog at Sandra Sookoo's blog!! See below!!

Tonight...

I'm going to see Harry Potter and I couldn't be more excited! What moves have you rushed out to see opening weekend?

I have Cover Art!!

SO, yesterday I said I was waiting for some Cover Art and then I received some! WOO HOO. Presenting the cover for my book Eye Contact!

Big News

I've signed another contract with Decadent Publishing for an adult series called The Conditioned. The first book is called Eye Contact. I'm so excited to have this book published, it is very close to my heart.

Now, I'm just waiting for more cover art. I love cover art.

Its Tuesday...

So find me over at Paranormal Romantics!!

Best

RR

Wedding Story

I went to a wedding this weekend for a colleague of my husband. He was marrying his girlfriend, who I really like and it was a very beautiful affair.

There is something really wonderful about a wedding. It makes everyone in the room feel overwhelmed with love for their spouse.

Dear Husband and I had a wonderful time at our wedding. It was basically a big New Orleans party.

How about you? What is your wedding story?

Six Sentence Sunday

So first off, my apologies. This was supposed to post automatically because I knew I would be out of town until around lunch time but, apparently, it did not.

Without further delay, more of the YA novel I've been writing:

At first, I wasn’t sure what I heard. It started as a small vibrating noise, like an alarm going off somewhere in the distance made the room shake a bit. The Wolves lifted their heads and sniffed the air. I wasn’t sure what that was about but I knew it couldn’t be good.

I grabbed Chad’s arm. “Something is happening.”

“Oh damn.” Rosa yelled at the top of her voice. “Icahn’s going to bring down the building on top of all of us just like he did at Liberty.”

I swallowed. To say I was terrified would be an understatement. Was there anything more terrifying than being buried alive?

Blogging Today...

I am blogging about my Young Adult Book at Enduring Romance Today. Stop by and say Hello.

RR

Worrying--A Morning in the Life

The phone rings and it is the mother of a child DS#1 is to have a playdate with. She’s slightly changing our plans. Instead of her adorable child coming to my house, my adorable child is going to hers. Not a problem. But then I think, oh sheesh, I’m going to have to pick him up right at the time that I have to be leaving in the car to go get DS#2. That means DS#1 is going to have to leave his playdate earlier than he would like. Oh well. C’est la vie, I suppose. A shorter playdate is better than no playdate at all. He will have a five year cow over the changes, like me he doesn’t like things to alter from the way he thinks they are going to be.

Okay. I’ve handled my darling boy cranky before and I will handle it again. It’s just, I suppose, part of the job.

I turn my attention back to the computer. I need to finish writing Chapter 12. Its not an easy chapter. The hardest I have ever written and its possible that the CP is going to hate it. Frankly, the idea of rewriting it has my fingers frozen on the keyboard. But inaction is not in my makeup and I begin to type.

The phone rings. More plans are changing, a conversation that is hard to have about a dear friend’s current horrible divorce situation. My eyes tear up. Another thing about me? I like to fix other people’s problems. I like to make things better. If a person needs a job, I like to fix them one. If a person needs a hug, I like to give them one. If a person needs an ear, I give them one. Its frustrating to me to not be able to fix what ails a friend. The call waiting beeps. Sheesh. Lots of phone calls today. I close my computer.

Yesterday was hard, small hurts that affect my children affect me deeply. I don’t think the kids know this about me. They’re young still. It wasn’t until I was an adolescent that I realized that my mother suffered when I did and years later still before I would realize just how much my father did. They are both fixers. I get my inability to not help from both of them.

I rehash the pain from the day before with my girlfriend who is wiser than I am and reminds me that we have a limited time in life to make things right for our little ones. Still, in this case, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I simply don’t know if confrontating a truly despicable person will yield the result that I want or if it will make things worse.

I get off the phone. It rings again. Fast conversation again. I hang up. Maybe I need to learn to ignore it. Now, I can’t concentrate on my book. It’s a hard world to visit, much harder than the first time with the first book, because things are so much harder on my sixteen year old heroine in this book than they were before. I’m worked up over my friend’s pain and my son’s small hurt and I don’t know if I can take on my heroines at the moment.

I guess I could blog. But I don’t have a blog topic. Again. I go to my sister-in-law’s blog. Life on the Fringe. She is always so personal in her blogging, so touching, so real. I don’t know that I do that. I read her blog and cry. She almost always brings me to tears and I share the post on Facebook.

Its almost time to get my oldest from school. He has a half-day from school because of parent teacher conferences. Now I’m worrying about that. Its amazing I don’t have an ulcer.

I suppose I need to get myself ready to go. I wouldn’t want to be late to pick him up. He’s like me. Even at five, he will worry.

Missing the hero...

For a large portion of the book I am currently writing, which happens to be the second book in my YA series, the hero from the first book has been missing. There are a lot of reasons for this. I'm not going to really explain why. If you read Book 1 when it releases, it will be clear why that it is.

But I miss him.

Does that ever happen to you? Do you get addicted to your characters?

As for me, don't worry. He's coming back and I'm thrilled about it.

Sometimes Its Hard To Come Up With A Blog Post

So, its Wednesday and I'm having some trouble coming up with a Blog Post to write today. Things here are running smoothly, mostly. My husband is away on a business trip. The kids are missing him, a lot. So am I. But we're sticking to our schedule and the kids are in school. I'm still trying to write a chapter that is giving me fits as I pause periodically to edit already contracted works.

I do love my job. Its such a joy to get to do it every day. But, I'm pretty much a normal Mom who spends most of her day trying to get errands done and take care of the children's needs. I just occasionally get to go visit worlds of my own invention and live in it for a while.

What do you do during your day?

Its Tuesday...

So please find me at Paranormal Romantics!

I'm a Creature of Routine

I am a creature of routine. Even the slightest alteration to my weekly schedule can throw off the whole darn week. I like to know when I'm going to do things and where my writing time will come from.

I know there are people out there who can go with the flow but I am not one of them.

How about you? Are you a schedule person or a go-with-the-flow type?

Six Sentence Sunday

Hello everyone,

I've got sick kids and a massive cold that doesn't want to leave me but I am THRILLED to share with you this week's Six Sentence Sunday!

Enjoy!!

You can find the rest of the entries here!

“If there is one thing I have learned.” Rosa’s voice interrupted my feeling sorry for myself. “It’s that we have very little control over what happens to us. None of us could have predicted any of this would happen. How could we? And it seems to me highly unlikely that you caused his death. Did you personally feed him to the Vampires?”

“No.” My voice sounded low, even to my own ears.

E-mail

It's amazing how dependent I am on checking my e-mail. I think I might try next week to go three days without checking it.

Except, I can't do that because I receive edits and communication from my publishers through e-mail. Oh well. Perhaps I can limit the amount of time I check my e-mail waiting for news of some kind on submissions.

Yeah, that isn't likely either.

Oh well, I guess I'm going to be that person...the one who perpetually checks her e-mail over and over and over again.

Initiation

I thought I would share with all of you today the beautiful new book trailer I have for Initiation. My friend Sandra makes them (if any of you want her contact info for a trailer, just let me know!) Anyway, I think she captured the book perfectly.

Decadent Publishing

Hi everyone,

Today I blogged about Decadence at the Decadent Publishing Blog. Come by and say hello!

Rebecca

As the leaves change...

As the leaves change this year, I am finding it harder and harder to get up early. The warmth of the covers, made even warmer by the presence of my husband's body heat on the other side of the bed, are such an enticement to stay right where I am and not face the day ahead.

But there are lunches to be made, children to be dropped off, and a baby to be played with. Also, I have two works in progress I would really love to finish. Oh, and I need to check my e-mail a million times a day to see if a submission I made is accepted.

So, I managed to get myself moving and I hope all of you have too. Have a wonderful, light filled day! And if the leaves are changing where you are then I hope you stay warm!

Its Tuesday...

And I've Interviewed Sara Brookes over at Paranormal Romantics. So come by and say hello!

RR

Am I a Junkie?

So, I will admit it. I was absolutely, without a doubt addicted to the television show Lost when it was on. I watched in awe as the show wrapped up and I still think about it now when I'm looking for something to put on at night.

However, recently, I've been wondering if my need for Lost will be filled with a new television show called The Event. Have you seen this show? Its exactly the same format as Lost, it ends every episode deeper in conspiracy with more questions and less answers. I am getting hooked. Only this time I am on my own with it because DH hasn't gotten hooked on the show. He's not as taken with it as I am.

Is anyone else out there watching it? Anyone else want to help me feed my addiction for science fiction suspense television?

Six Sentence Sunday

Well, in honor of Halloween I am posting some of my creepiest writing yet in my Young Adult Series for Six Sentence Sunday. You can find the rest of the fabulous entries here.

Dragging me by my arm, he shoved me forward through the hall I’d tried to run down. I didn’t try to get out of his grip. It would be fruitless. Unlike my Undead captors, this wolf wasn’t going to be easily tricked. I tried to swallow my fear away and only managed to make myself want to cry. For all my gumption, I was still just sixteen years old. Wasn’t it possible I could live a life where that could occasionally mean I didn’t have to go through times like this?

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween Blog Hop

http://booknibbles.com/blogtour/

Hi Everyone,

If you're just getting here through the blog hop, then welcome. I am so glad to have you here. Halloween always reminds me of Westervelt because it was created after I visited a zoo at Halloween time.

In fact, the cover artist for Her Wolf, the first book in the series, did a great job of capturing the Halloween covers.

See?

It worked out perfectly because Halloween is the time when we make the Paranormal normal. What is more abnormal than Werewolves running about and falling in love?

On a personal note, I had a little encounter myself this AM with the Paranormal. The whole house awakened because a raccoon through itself over and over and over again against our front. We cannot figure out what it was doing but the police are over here right now searching for it.

Best to all of you

RR

Dancing video made me smile!

This video made me smile so much I had to share it!

Thank you

By the way, I was a Top Seller at Liquid Silver Books, which means I get to have this really cool button to show off on my blog. Thank you, thank you, thank you, a million thank yous for buying my books.

Much love

Rebecca

I Have A Bad Cold

I have a bad cold and it really, really stinks. I was up most of the night just really uncomfortable. I probably got it on the airplane earlier this week.

In the meantime, I'm trying to deal positively with a rejection by coming up with some new ideas and the ideas are flowing. If only I had the time to write them. I'm somewhat committed with current projects for a few months at least. But I'm hoping the ideas will simmer and be written later this year.

In the mean time, I'm going to try not to cough and sneeze on you!

Best

RR

My sweet husband

I'd just like to take today to acknowledge my sweet husband and all he does for me. There would be no writing time if he didn't help to make it happen. He believes in me and he loves me even as I go through life with my head in the clouds.

Thank you honey for making real life so wonderful to come back to.

Love

Me

Bang Bang Bang

That is the sound that fills my days at home as they build a house next door. The house that had been on the lot previously was very old and when our neighbors, who we loved and had lived in the house for fifty years, moved out they sold it to a builder. Needless to say, we knew what he would do to the house.

Now I spend my days listening to the bang bang bang of construction. I don't really have any ground to stand on to complain. We put an addition on our house last year. But, if any of you start to see the presence of construction or loud, annoying bangs in my writing, that is why.

Hope you are all well today!

I'm back

Hi there,

I'm back from my vacation! It was really great getting to visit with my friendly but I'm also excited to be back with my children and my husband.

It was a bit of a strange flight back. Some odd things happened on the plane, like the air conditioning breaking and not getting served a drink for an hour and a half, but we got here and ultimately thats what matters.

I feel refreshed just in time to get some serious editing done today on Initiation. Good news!

Six Sentence Sunday

Hello everyone,

Has a whole week gone by already? Wow. Anyway, it is Six Sentence Sunday and I am continuing to give you snippets of my work-in-progress, which is a Post-Apocalyptic Young Adult Novel. The second in a series called the Warrior. The first one, Initiation, will be coming out soon with Decadent Publishing.

Here are my six sentences for this week and please find all the other entries listed here

Finally, when I could speak, I made my mouth work. “It wasn’t enough to treat me like prey? To send vampires and werewolves after me every night just for fun?”

He shook his head, baring his teeth in what could only be called a wolfish manner. It made me want to gag. “No, you proved to be more trouble than you were worth. We have a system for dealing with people like you...

The Moon Tonight

Just wanted to share

Happy Saturday!

Today, I am going on a boat tour to see the beautiful sights around my parents' house. All of the times I have been here, I have never had the chance to do this because I've always had the kids with me. Now, alone this trip, I can get a chance to have a really good adult time.

What are you all up to today?

Greetings from my Vacation

Hello everyone,

Well, I made it through my flight phobia and I am visiting my parents. As I write this, I have abandoned my poor husband (love you sweetheart) and children (love you guys!) and am off by myself. The weather is beautiful and I am feeling rested. Oh! And last night I actually got carded. For the record, I am WAY over 21 years old. Perhaps I look younger on vacation. LOL

Not to worry though, before I went to bed last night I started edits on my YA book Initiation coming soon from Decadent Publishing.

We'll call it a working vacation!

Best

RR

Fears

I have had the good fortune to do a lot of travel in my life and, for me, that has meant getting on an airplane. I hate to fly. No matter how much I do it, I don't get used to it. Today, I am going on an airplane to visit my family. Yes, I am abandoning my husband and children until Sunday for a little decompression. I clearly need a vacation, I can feel the stress in the back of my neck and my husband couldn't be more supportive of my going for a few days. He's such a good Dad, I don't worry about leaving the kids in his good hands for a few days. It'll be like a party for them at home!

But I'm clenching my teeth about my upcoming air travel.

Is there anything you have to do that scares you?

Hello!

Hi everyone and good morning!

Lots to do today!

Yesterday was the kind of day when I felt like I was absolutely failing in everything. My five year old and my three year old challenged me all day and my writing stalled. But today is a new day. I am determined it will be a better one! And if I have to drag it kicking and screaming by force of will alone, so help me it will be a better day!

Best to all of you!

RR

Its Tuesday...

So you can find me at Paranormal Romantics.

Come by and say Hello!

Rereading

So, since the baby has gotten sick and I don't have time to really write, what I'm doing in the brief spare moments I have is to reread series of books I've already read. I've done this before with Nalini Singh's series and right now I'm rereading Lora Leigh's Breed Series.

Have you ever done this? What series do you reread all the time?

Six Sentence Sunday

Hello everyone!

This is my entry this week for Six Sentence Sunday. I hope you're all doing well and that you'll check out everyone else's entries too. They can be found here.

This is from my current WIP and its the second story in a YA series I'm writing.

I woke up slowly, a bad taste in my mouth, as I looked around at my surroundings. It was dark, but I could make out a little light coming into the room from under what appeared to be a doorway. I’d read somewhere, in a book found in the Genesis library, that sometimes people are afraid of the dark. There had been a whole slew of fears in the catalog. Some people were afraid of heights, some people were afraid of dogs, and still others went so far as to be afraid to leave the house in general.

Waking up in that strange place, I knew I wasn’t scared of the dark and there wasn’t a bug on earth that could make me shake or shiver.

Best to all of you!!

RR

Lots of Stuff Going Wrong

I guess the most important issues is that my youngest son has a terrible virus that had him wake up last night with 104 fever, which was really scary. We're all pretty exhausted today. But the good news is I have a new computer plug so I can use my own computer again. Keep us in your thoughts that this virus my poor baby has moves through quickly!

When life breaks your computer plug...

...You try to make due with your husband's computer.

But, its challenging. I'm just not that comfortable using his. I know I'm lucky to have it. But, that is where I am. Sigh. Today, I'm actually going to try to use it to write.

My youngest son has another ear infection. I'm concerned we're going to end up with the tubes. My second son already has them. But my poor baby has a fever of 102.5 and he is soo unhappy. I hate it when the kids get sick.

I'm hoping we can get this under control and still have a wonderful weekend. Any plans for all of you?

Celebrity Couples

Can you guys think of any celebrity couples, other than Paul Newman and Joann Woodward, who have managed to stay married?

I guess I have this on the brain because of the recent split of Courtney Cox and David Arquette who were married 11 years--a veritable eternity in Hollywood

So...

My trip down Memory Lane had to be put off for another day. My DS#1's after school activity got cancelled so I will not be going where I thought I would. Oh well. Another Day!

A Trip Down Memory Lane Today

More to come about it later...

Its Tuesday...

And Virginia Cavanaugh is talking about her new release at Paranormal Romantics today. Come see her!

Rebecca

Why am I so obsessed with House Hunters International?

And Property Virgins? And House Hunters? And Selling New York?

Heavens, I own a house and I sold Real Estate for a while. You would think I would have gotten this out of my system.

Do you have any television obsessions?

What were you like as a child?

The picture above is of my son at his most recent Soccer practice. You'll note he's not looking at his ball. This picture makes me laugh because I am told this is exactly what I was like as a child. If everyone was dancing. I was looking up at the ceiling. If everyone was chasing a ball, I was looking at the clouds.

In my 5 year-old's case, it seems he likes to look at the grass, even tasting it at Little League last Spring.

It can be hard because I want to yell at him to focus, to pay attention, because life can be hard when you're young and your head is in the clouds. I know from personal experience. But, I also think that as an adult a lot of what made me a tough child makes me an interesting adult. I think that while we discourage creativity in favor of focus in young children we strive for it as adults.

So I'm trying to leave him alone and let him be himself. Although sometimes I do find myself telling him he has to do a better job of paying attention. Like my son, I am a work in progress.

How about all of you? What were you like as children?

Six Sentence Sunday

So this is my first week doing Six Sentence Sunday. If you've found me for the first time, welcome! I'm so happy to be playing this week.

Basically, how it works is that I am going to show you six sentences from the work in progress I am writing.

It is a Young Adult Book, so no steamy scenes here from me at the moment. The second in a series, the first book Initiation, is being published by Decadent Publishing. This one is tentatively called Driven.

Take a look. Here are my six sentences for this Sunday!

"He’d said us but I could hear the undercurrent of what he meant. He meant ‘him.’ Jason was the guy who I was going to leave him for about six months ago. Not that six months ago I’d made any kind of commitment to Chad that meant I couldn’t have left without anyone having any right to question me. Still, I could feel his pain creep inside of me where I knew it would take root with all of the other things I stored in my stomach to feel guilty about later.

It was amazing I could eat anything at all these days.

“So are you going to leave me for him now?” "

Hope you guys have a great Sunday!

Who is in charge?

Just came from my oldest son's soccer practice. Yes, bright and early on Saturday morning the entire family--all 5 of us--load up into our cars. (Yes, that is plural, today we took 2) and go to one of the fields in our town to watch my son play soccer. He is only 5 and he is still learning. Truth is, so far, he's not much into sports. Its a little bit tricky because he kind of doesn't want to play but we want him to get outside and play while maybe picking up some skills he can use later if he decides he wants to play then.

I face similar problems with my characters. Right now, in the chapter I am about to start, a character is going to wake my heroine up. I want it to be one character doing the waking but my muse thinks it should be someone else. Now, I, Rebecca Royce, the writer of this piece of fiction, knows its important for the character I want to do it to wake up my heroine so some pieces of information can be given out and some story points worked through.

However, my muse has a different vision for the chapter.

It begs the question: who is in charge of this story? Of course this isn't different from real life, who is in charge? Me, who wants my son to play soccer or my son or wants to come home and watch cartoons?

Sigh. We'll see on all counts.

ACK!

There is this moment in Sex and The City, the first movie, where Big has hurt Carrie beyond recovery. She takes a look at herself in the mirror and you can see how haggard she looks. I was so impressed with Sarah Jessica Parker for allowing herself, as an actress, to look like this. Despite all protests to the contrary, I grew up working with actors and actresses, most of them don't want to look that exposed, that 'un-beautiful' on film.

In any case, we have been going through a lot lately--I blogged about some of it the other day--and last night I took a look in the mirror. ACK!! LOL. The dark circles in my eyes can probably be spotted from the moon.

I think I need a spa day although that is as likely as my winning the lottery.

Oh well. I'm going back to write and I'll be avoiding the mirrors for a while.

KId Rock Says...

He Stood Up

For those of you I haven't discussed this with, and I think honestly I've told maybe three people about it, my third son, who is 1 year old, didn't stand up by his first birthday. This is considered a milestone for children. They're supposed to do it by one year old.

So we started Physical Therapy, which has stressed me out a great deal because it made me feel somewhat panicked that it wouldn't work or that something else was really wrong--despite the fact that both my husband and my parents reassured me a hundred times that he was fine.

Now here we are three weeks later and he stood up! He did it last night and now this morning he's doing it like he's always been doing it.

During the last three weeks, I've been having a hard time writing because all of my focus has gone to him and trying to work with him and, frankly, fear didn't let anything else in.

But this morning I feel fantastic. I think I'm going to be able to write today!

He stood up!!