Sorry that I haven’t been around much, but it’s been a very busy week.  I’ve been out on the loops promoting my latest release ‘Some Kind of Hero’.  Available now at Samhain Publishing.  And as you guys know, I got a new cover for my latest contracted story ‘Best of Intentions’.  Plus I had galley proofs for my soon to be released full length romantic suspense novel. ‘Ransomed Heart.’  And I just received first round edits for ‘Best of Intentions.’   AND I just got my author copies of the print book ‘Sand, Sun and Sex’.  Which is an anthology thats part of Samhain Publishing’s Midsummer Night’s Steam series.  They’ll be available to purchase May 29th.

It’s funny, April was such a quite month that I was beginning to worry and fret over my future as a writer.  Then the 29th hit and it was like somebody opened the flood gates.  Now I’m so busy I can barely think and I’m loving every minute of it.  Stay tuned folks.  When it gets a little closer to the print release for Sand Sun and Sex I’ll be setting up a contest to win a signed author’s copy. 

Not too long ago I announced that I’d been given a contract for my paranormal romantic suspsense entitled ‘Best of Intentions’.  Well, the staff at The Wild Rose Press move fast, not only am I expecting 1st round edits any day now, but I’ve received my cover.  Isn’t it pretty?  The artist is Rae Monet and she does amazing work.

Though I obviously don’t have a release date yet, I’m guessing it will be sometime fall/winter 2008 for e-book then next year for print. 

Your Mind is Green

Of all the mind types, yours has the most balance. You are able to see all sides to most problems and are a good problem solver. You need time to work out your thoughts, but you don’t get stuck in bad thinking patterns. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the future, philosophy, and relationships (both personal and intellectual).

LOL…considering I can barely remember my name right now, I have a hard time believing this, but okay…so What Color Is Your Mind?

Yesterday I watched the derby, as I do every year.  Steeped in tradition, it’s an event like no other.  I watched the horses do their pre race parade and wondered what kind of race it would be.  Did Big Brown have the power that they said he did?  Would the race be accident and injury free.  A few minutes later I had my answer. Yes Big Brown was everything they’d touted and more.  I couldn’t help but make a correlation between him and Barbaro.  Unfortunately, Eight Belles,  the only filly in the race and one of the crowd favorites fell victim to horse racing’s curse.  After finishing second, she collapsed on the track with two broken front legs.  Both compound fractures and not a hope of surviving it.  Much like Barbaro and hundreds of horses a year she literally gave her life for our enjoyment.

To me, it seems as though the industry will soon have to take a good hard look in the mirror.  Bred for speed over stamina, many of these horses are running on legs as fragile as glass.  By the age of 3 years old they’re expected to race, putting thousands of pounds of weight on the bones in their legs.  If this trend continues, more horses are going to needlessly die.

The most recent quick fix for this has been the introduction of artificial surfaces, poly-tracks if you will.  I don’t believe that changing the track surface alone will solve the crises facing the industry as a whole.  More needs to be done, including, in my opinion changing the derby from 3 year olds to 4 year olds.  Whose to say that extra year of training wouldn’t make all the difference in the world?

As I begin my next story, or should I say revisit a story started and filed away, I’ll be pondering the derby, Preakness stakes and Belmont for some time to come.