Cyn

Every once in a while I get a surprise. A real honest to goodness surprise. Earlier this month it was receiving word that my fantasy novel, Blind Devotion was a finalist in the prestigious Eppie contest. The novel is up against seven other excellent novels. I'm just thrilled to be in the hunt.

This morning I found out the same novel is nominated for a CAPA award (Cupid and Psyche Award) from the Romance Studio (http://theromancestudio.com/capa.php) for Best Fantasy Romance. Someone, somewhere, somehow nominated the book. This wasn't a contest I entered and so this came one hundred percent out of the blue. I'm pretty excited. This story was one of my favorites to write (they all are, but this one really came easily for some reason).

The story follows Azari, who has woken not one, but two mythical beasts. They are the cevere and the red dragon. The two beasts are ancient enemies of one another and both stake a claim on Azari's virginity. In a wild run through the woods, Azari finds refuge in a cabin, the cabin of the High Priest of Eliki, Tor.

When Tor hears Azari's tale and discovers he's her protector, they start off on a journey that has them fighting for their lives and falling in love. But Tor is sworn to serve the Goddess and not his own needs. Can Azari accept being nothing more than a concubine or will her heart be sacrificed with Tor's Blind Devotion.

My latest story, Bet Me is now available for purchase.  Bet Me is a vignette of four grad students, desperate to connect with one another.  This story, about twenty pages long, centers on Sylvia and Travis who engage in a hot game of strip poker.

Bet Me is part of the Plain Brown Wrapper series being developed by Aspen Mountain Press and intended as a brief, steamy read.

I'm tired.  You know those sort of days.  You want nothing more on your responsibility plate than to take care of basic needs like eating and sleeping and if you had your druthers, you'd sleep because eating is too much work.

So, what do you do?  I usually end up taking a mini-nap or crawl beneath a blanket on my bed and read.  Right now I'm reading The Finishing School by Dick Couch.  One thing struck me.  Some military special operations schools are meant to force people out, to see who will quit and who will give the unit more than 100%. 

On these sleepy days, I think about people I respect, people who don't quit.  They encourage me to keep slugging uphill, to steal my thirty winks and then get back at it...the business of writing and editing and entertaining readers.  Nothing I do can touch what the men in special ops do.  Makes my whining insignificant.  So, I'll take my tiny nap and despite how tired I believe I am, I'll get back to my job at hand and work at making a little difference in someone's life.