The Cover for The Taming of Mei Lin

Filed in: Asian fantasy | blog | covers    Tags: Asian fantasy | butterfly swords | harlequin historical undone | historical romance | jade lee | martial arts | the concubine | warrior bride

The cover for THE TAMING OF MEI LIN (excerpt), my September Undone release is here! First of all it’s gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. The colors are beautiful and the backdrop is sweeping.

Let the cover kibitz begin:

• I think the hero looks a bit like Daniel Dae Kim from Lost, don’t you? I do love a nice strong jawline.

• Time period: the clothing and hair isn’t Tang Dynasty. They had to take some liberties with that. The Undones are digitally published and so they create the covers from the Harlequin art bank, which leads me to the best part of the cover…

• The heroine and hero may look very familiar because they also graced the cover of my favorite Harlequin Blaze, THE CONCUBINE by Jade Lee. Perhaps her lovers had met before in a previous life hundreds of years earlier in the Tang Dynasty? They were simply fated to meet again and fall in love eternally…

Cover models get reused all the time. I’m just tickled pink that Jade’s models reappear on my cover. I’ll always associate them with THE CONCUBINE, which is sitting proudly on my keeper shelf.

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While I was sleeping…

Filed in: blog | publishing | writing    Tags: butterfly swords | harlequin historical undone | taming of mei lin | warrior bride

I always know what time it is in the UK. At least, I know when 5pm hits over there and the business day is over. That block from when I wake up to about noon is when I wait eagerly for news…if there’s any wait-worthy news on the pipeline…which there usually is.

In any case, I woke up this morning to a wonderful surprise. The powers that be have decided to rename my Harlequin Undone short from “Warrior Bride” to “The Taming of Mei Lin”. The Undone line is e-published, with a possibility of later going print in an anthology. The title is the main selling point for Undones and the powers wanted something that reflected both the sensuality and the Asian setting.

I’m quite thrilled! The Taming of Mei Lin also has the added benefit of referencing The Taming of the Shrew. Hee hee…which actually works quite well here. I wish I had thought of it.

Mei Lin is the feisty counterpart to Ai Li, the heroine of Butterfly Swords. You’ll have to look carefully for Mei Lin’s appearance in the longer novel.

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Good news week

Filed in: writing    Tags: Announcements | harlequin undone | new sale | warrior bride

It’s nice to have one of these once in a while.

This week one of my dear writing buddies, Bria Quinlan, landed a dream agent. Her book, Secret Girlfriend, brought me back to my teenage years and made me laugh and cry like a schoolgirl.

Blog penpals Lisa and Laura Roecker announced their first sale of The Haunting of Pemberly Brown to Sourcebooks. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time because I knew it was going to happen!

Edited to add: And more good news! Fellow Ruby Sister, Tamara Hogan, sold her debut novel Underbelly as part of a three book series to Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks. Underbelly is set to be released in 2011! There’s still time left for more good tidings.

I received approval for my first conference speaking opportunity on Monday and I received an offer for my historical short from Harlequin Undone on Tuesday! It’s a love story that’s mentioned briefly in Butterfly Swords and forms the basis for Ai Li’s honorable yet feisty character.

If you’ve browsed by on Excerpt Monday, you may remember that I posted the opening in first draft: Warrior Bride excerpt

The details are still being hammered out, but right now I’m glowing that this little story will see the light of day and that I have a second sale.

Good energy is in the air. Can you feel it?

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Now what?

Filed in: craft | writing    Tags: brainstorming | the dragon and the pearl | warrior bride | writing neuroses

So I’m in that weird limbo where I’ve finished a project and haven’t picked up a new one yet. The first draft of my novella, Warrior Bride, is done and shipped off to be ripped to shreds by critique partners. The betas of The Dragon and the Pearl have come back and I’m getting those edits in.

I’m going to be a big girl and send both of those to my agent this weekend. I don’t know why I’m so scared. Actually, I know exactly why I’m scared. It’s like when mum used to always tell me to do better on the next report card. Then one day I brought home straight A’s and mum was happy — but I knew I wasn’t going to get to drop an A ever again.

I’m sure it’s not that dramatic. Mum/Gail will still love me if I bring home a B, right?

Well, so I have two choices right now as I wait for revisions. I can drag out the dusty first manuscript I ever wrote, Intrigue of the Dragon Court, of which very little of the old manuscript gets to remain. Including the title. Even that has to go. The thought of editing that scares the bejeebies out of me.

Second choice: I can fast draft something totally unrelated. Now here’s where my writing weird comes out to bite me. Nothing is calling out of the ether. I’m always afraid the next idea won’t come. I hear other writers lament about how they have all these ideas tugging at them and here I am, no plot bunnies anywhere. Here bunny, bunny…

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