When the Voices in Your Head Won’t Stop Talking . . .

I’m really busy right now. I’ve got a new release coming up on May 29 (SEEKER OF SHADOWS, book 6 in my By Moonlight series) and am waiting for revisions on the next book of the series (BETRAYED BY SHADOWS, 12/18/12). I’ve got guest blog posts up the wazoo to write, an apartment to Spring clean (before its Fall!), website to update, book trailer to put together, excerpts to cull, newsletter to e-mail, and have a regimented plan to deal with all those tasks on my calendar. Thumbs up. Ahead of the game . . . until the whispers start.

Whispers from a new project . . . from the hero and heroine of Book 8.

I’ll just jot down a few notes before I forget, I tell myself last weekend. Then I’ll get cracking on my PR campaign duties. A twelve page synopsis later . . .

Last Monday, I’ve got my headphones on at work doing dictation for an SSDI case, typing along, tripping over my dyslexic acrylic nails that need a trimming (note to self: make an appointment). I’m digging on myofacial pain syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy and supraspinatus tendinosis (and can spell all those words) when my mind’s eye begins to spool out a different picture (right in the middle of discussions on irritable bowel syndrome, no less!)

A gentle lady held hostage in a deadly struggle for power, Kendra Terriot’s only means of survival for herself and her family is to play a careful courtship game. The one she chooses from the dangerous Terriot heirs will rule, but the one she longs to have rescue her belongs to another.

As the favored son of their merciless clan leader, the only calm in Cale Terriot’s necessarily violent life is his baffling infatuation with his delicate distant cousin. With Kendra at his side, he knows he can become the kind of ruler his family needs, but first he must learn how to become the kind of man she desires.

In a treacherous race for the coveted crown, where weakness means death, can Cale prove he’s not the beast his beauty fears and still protect her, especially once her chosen love returns to free her? The only way to win her respect could mean surrendering his throne. The only way to win her heart could mean letting her go.

Okay, okay. This urgent IBS isn’t going to sit back and wait while I develop a scene for my other job . . . that’s why I have a lunch hour. I’ll just write down a few lines so I’ll remember where the scene was going. Six pages later . . .

I’ve probably mentioned I’m ADD with OCD rising. When I focus on something, I’m like a thoroughbred on the backstretch heading for the finish line under the whip with blinders on (or maybe one of those mules with the funny hats pulling tourists around the French Quarter). Nothing stops me or gets in my way. I can’t see anything else even as I’m stepping over it. Whatchu gonna do?

15,000 words later . . .

Inspiration doesn’t check your calendar. When it knocks, you answer. When those voices speak (unless they’re saying, “Kill them all!”), you listen.

Now, about those blog posts . . . That’s why I have lunch hours.

I haven’t been totally irresponsible in starting my PR blitzkrieg. Join me for The Book Demolition Derby!!! Scavenger Hunt! May 5-May 20th 2012. Free books from over twenty authors (including SEEKER OF SHADOWS!) and all you have to do is have fun.

For you Goodreads members, Pocket has got a book giveaway going for SEEKER OF SHADOWS from now through May 26!! Zip over to enter. Book Giveaway For Seeker of Shadows (Moonlight, #6)