Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!

Still chugging along on Caged Animals. Finally got some kissing action going on! Woo! It’s a romance novel! It was looking dangerously like straight-up urban fantasy for a while there. Now there’s tension! And lust! And tight pants that make Tate’s ass look… well, you’ll see. 🙂

Let’s get real for a second

OK, folks. I’m gonna be straight with you.

This novel is a bastard.

Seriously. I wrote Ariadne’s Kitchen in a month, and I thought that’s how my writing would go. Easy peasy, just flowing like a fountain from my fingers to the screen.

I forgot that life sometimes happens. It happens in big ways and little ways, and sometimes it poops all over your hopes and dreams. I’ve had a lot of that the past couple of months. I spent a solid month dealing with severe migraines, one of which lasted for fifteen days and put me in the hospital. I’ve mentioned my struggles with mental illness on here before. I had a nasty round of depression last week. That took me out of the game. My daughter has a couple of serious issues that we’ve been doing the rounds of doctors and treatment. That makes it hard to write.

I know it’s been excuses down the line here. So I’m writing an apology when I get stuck on the novel. Because I need a success, and this novel is fighting me tooth and nail.

So, as far as the novel goes, I don’t know when it’s going to be finished. I keep giving myself deadlines, and I keep choking on them. I’m hoping it’ll be done soon, but I can’t keep making promises and breaking them. It’s unfair to you and it’s stifling me.

Hopefully sooner, I’ll get my side project done. Ariadne’s Honeymoon. It’s not going to be long, and it’s going to be light and fluffy and merengue-like. Oh sure, there’s going to be mayhem, but it’s going to be a lot less intense than Caged Animals.

TL:DR I’m not gonna make that deadline, life is a pain in the butt, short story coming soon, novel later.

Lots of love,

Zoe

It Lives!

Hey all! I just wanted to post a quick update to let you know that I hadn’t died or anything. Medical stuff has largely quieted down, no further hospital trips, and I’m back to writing my next novel.

Caged Animals is proving a lot trickier than Ariadne’s Kitchen, and it keeps asking for more chapters. Which is great, because the outline started short a few, but is frustrating because now I have to write those chapters, and the end is getting further away. My intended deadline for this book is ancient history, and my current deadline for it is getting bumped further back, and writing is hard, y’all!

But enough of my bitching! I’m eight chapters in, and moving ahead steadily. I’m hoping for an early/mid-July release, with editing and cover art and all that fun stuff.

I’ll try to post more often. I’ve been bad at all social media, for myself and for my professional stuff. Naughty Zoe, no biscuit.

We’re in an Instafreebie Collection!

Ariadne is in Brazen Bookshelf’s April Instafreebie Collection! Check it out at http://brazenbookshelf.com/aprilcollection for a whole cavalcade of free romance of all flavors, shapes, sizes, and sizzles. Get yourself a big ol’ pile of reading material all at once!

 

Seriously, body, WTF.

So, my body is trying to secede from the union.

Seriously. I had a ten-day-long migraine. Ten days. Non-stop. Guess how much writing got done during that. Answer: Not a heck of a lot.

Migraine ended last Thursday. Immediately segued into a stunning chest cold with a side of permanently dizzy. Turns out I have a lot of fluid on my ears, and it’s giving me the spins. Not the fun spins. The make-it-stop-please ones.

I did get some writing done today. I finally found Morri’s voice. I spent the afternoon rewriting the same paragraph over and over again, but that paragraph is awesome, and I hope to write another one tomorrow. *headdesk*

I swear, this novel will get written. If I have to claw it out of my brain with my fingers.

Ow.

Migraine. Day five. Five days of nonstop migraine.

I’m done.

It has not been a plentiful writing week. I have gotten a lot of research and concept work done, but making words and dialogue into any sort of coherent thing hasn’t really happened. I am deeply annoyed by this. I wanted to have chapters, multiple, done by now. Phooey.

I’m on a steroid pack that, in theory, will knock this sucker out tomorrow so I can be a useful human being again. Important, because my little girl has a nasty cold and needs her mommy upright and functional (we watched a LOT of TV today.)

Round Two!

Started Book Two of the Ariadne’s Kitchen series yesterday! It’s as rough as it comes, but it’s words on the screen, and I’m excited to get them there.

Cuz I love you guys because you read my social media, here’s the first draft of the blurb for the book!

***

Raven-haired beauty Morri Bennetti is no stranger to the scene of a crime. No matter how gory. As a crime scene investigator, she never flinches or holds back in the midst of an investigation. Nothing rattles her. Whether collecting evidence in the field or purging the gory aftermath of a battle with the Lacuna, Morri’s got the sharpest eye for detail. So when the youngest member of the Rochester wolf pack goes missing, she’s there to uncover the clues.

The only problem? Tate Tunstall.

Tall, tempting wolf-shifter Tate is a star in the Rochester Police Department and the wolf pack, and he knows it. His arrest record and his battle prowess have earned him glory in the Rochester Family, and a bit of an attitude toward the other shifters besides. When his pack omega Randy goes missing, he’s the first wolf on the scene looking for him.

When Tate’s arrogance gets Morri captured by Lacuna cultists, his pride leads him to try to rescue her alone. Can he save Morri and Randy? Will the raven-haired crow-shifter prove more tempting than he previously thought? Can he earn back her trust? Or will he get them all killed?

Caged Animals is the second book in the Ariadne’s Kitchen series and features reckless shapeshifting, sticky messes in dangerous places, and an alpha determined to get what he wants. Each novel is full-length, standalone, and has a HEA!

***

On an amusing note, my husband just sent me a news article. It seems that the real-world site of my new novel, the 20-year-abandoned Terrence Building in Rochester that was perfect for all sorts of arcane ne’er-do-well-ing, JUST got bought and is about to be developed into apartments and a hotel! AAAAAAAUGH!!! Ah well. I’m not about to let reality get in the way of a good story. Bad things are gonna happen in that building, come hell or high water.

Now Available on Amazon: Ariadne’s Kitchen

It’s live, ladies and gents!

You can get Ariadne’s Kitchen on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited, or you can get a real solid paperback copy! (Hopefully, those two separate listings will merge into one single listing in the next day or so, or I’m gonna have to noogie someone.)

I hope you love reading it as much as I loved writing it!

OMG OMG OMG OMG

Ariadne’s Kitchen, my first novel, should hit Amazon tomorrow. Link to follow. Squeee!!!

***

She always wanted him to fall at her feet. She didn’t want it to be in a pool of blood.

Ariadne Green is a young woman living a simple life. She waits tables at her family’s restaurant, Ariadne’s Kitchen. She pals around with the regulars. She has an apartment over the restaurant. She casts spells and brews potions with her mother on the weekend. She’s been studying magic since she could walk, and knows not to share that knowledge with outsiders. And she’s been in love with Ben Bern as long as she can remember.

She doesn’t know that her mother has been keeping something from her. A whole world of something that’s about to come crashing down into her lap.

Ben Bern is a Rochester beat cop. He’s also got a bear inside him. He’s had his protective eye on Ariadne since they were kids, but when he first shifted, it made him think twice about letting her in. He’s about to get into trouble that he can’t handle alone.

When he lets Ariadne save his life, he draws her into exactly what he was trying to protect her from. And when the healing spell goes awry, they find themselves bound together in a way that could endanger them both.

Ariadne’s about to learn what her mother never wanted to teach her. Will she survive the lesson? Will she finally break down Ben’s resolution never to bring her into his life? Will her mother completely blow her top when she finds out what’s been going on in her absence?

Rochester may never be the same.

Ariadne’s Kitchen is the first book in the Ariadne’s Kitchen series and features reckless shapeshifting, wild magic, a very protective bear, and hot, sticky messes. Each novel is full-length, standalone, and has an HEA!

***

But wait, there’s more! There’s also a prologue novella freebie called Ariadne, available here, that tells the story of Ariadne’s parents getting together. Backstory!

ALSO ALSO, if you subscribe to my newsletter, you get an epilogue novella freebie adding some extra closure to Ariadne’s Kitchen!

ALL THE FREEBIES!!!

NEWS!!!

I say “News” because there is good and bad to be had.

The Good: I will be launching both a prologue novella (Ariadne) and MY FIRST NOVEL, Ariadne’s Kitchen, within the next week. *happy flail* ALSO, I am finishing up a special novella for newsletter subscribers only. So if you want the goodies, get on there!

The Bad: I can’t give you the firm date I wanted to give, because of a massive windstorm that took out power to 25% of my county yesterday, including my home. I am typing this from my iPad in my mom’s sewing room. As there are places in the county still in a state of emergency, my 24-house block with its downed power lines will be sitting in the dark and cold for a while. So, my family is putting us up for the duration.

The novel and novella are being held hostage on my computer at home. Note to self: remote backups, always. I’m hoping to liberate my computer tonight so I can stay on track for a Monday release, but I can’t make any promises.

Love to all!

–Zoe