THREADS OF LOVE

Finally, we have a cover for the novella collection releasing March 1. Myself, and three other authors have compiled four stories of love and forgiveness.

LAX AGAIN

Well, once again, I've been lax about reporting on my writing journey. So, let's get caught up, shall we? I finished, COOKING UP LOVE, Finding Love the Harvey Girl Way, and sent the completed manuscript to Harlequin's Heartsong Presents line. I finished four proposals. Two for Harlequin's Heartsong Presents, One for Harlequin's Love Inspired Historical, and one for Love Inspired's romantic suspense line. In addition to that, I've done a bit of marketing, not nearly enough, and ran one of my ebook historical romances, A Love for Delicious, free over the past weekend. Not as many downloads as I would have liked, but haven't given up yet. Sales have slowed for the month of October but I'm hopeful that scores of people will run out and buy a Kindle for themselves and loved ones at Christmas then proceed to download ALL of my books. I'm optimistic :) And I was one of the nine authors chosen for Barbour's Christmas anthology, A Pioneer Christmas due out for the holidays in 2013. So far in 2013, I have releasing, Unraveling Love, a novella by Barbour, Cooking Up Love, Heartsong Presents, SugarPlum Dreams, a Christmas story through Heartsong Presents, and A Cowgirl Christmas, an anthology by Barbour. Whew! When I comment on how busy I am, my friends all say, "Well, you asked for it." And, yes, I did. Thank you, God.

ACFW Conference 2012

I don't have pictures yet, bummer, but didn't want to wait too long to tell you of my experiences at conference this year. If you are serious about writing, and have yet to make the commitment to attend writing conferences, I strongly urge you to do so. Attending a conference lets editors and agents know who is serious about their writing. On Thursday, I had the priviledge of riding the shuttle from the airport to the hotel with Tina James and Melissa Endlich, editors of Harlequin's Love Inspired Line, and hopefully soon editors of mine! :) Once at the hotel, I had the joy of meeting in the coffee bar with Gina Welborn and Laurie Alice Eakes. What fun they are! Then, later that afternoon, I met with my wonderful agent, Chip MacGregor, and we came up with a game plan for the rest of 2012 and 2013. On Friday, I attended Susie May Warren's wonderful class on writing, had professional headshots done, and had an editor appointment with Tina James of Harlequin in which she requested a proposal. Yay! That evening, I went into the cute little historical town of Grapevine with Rachel Fernandez and Melissa Smith to a seafood restaurant where I ordered fish tacos Texas style. Yum. Saturday was more classes and then the wonderful Gala. I arrived home on Sunday totally and completely exhausted but feeling as if I'd finally "arrived" as an author. After six conferences, people now recognize my name and my face. In a good way, too! God willing, I plan on attending conferences every year and maybe, sometime in the future, actually mentor up and coming authors. If you're serious about writing, save your money, attend conferences, network, make appointments, make friends, have fun, and keep writing!

HARLEQUIN HEARTSONG PRESENTS

Well, as usual, a few days have passed since my last blog. Hey, at least it wasn't months! But, my writing career just took a great big leap! I've signed a two-book contract with Harlequin's new Heartsong Presents line, with the option of signing for two more early 2013. The first book, COOKING UP LOVE, Finding Love the Harvey Girl way, is book one in a series focused on the Harvey Girls, women who served in restaurants along the Santa Fe Railroad, and is scheduled for a June 2013 release. The second book is SUGARPLUM DREAMS, a Christmas historical romance. This is scheduled for a November 2013 release.

DAILY LOG - DAY 1 CAPTAIN HICKEY

Don't get too excited, I seriously doubt I'll be able to keep up the post a day thingie. But, I did promise to give readers a view of my publishing journey. I have 9 books posted on ebook. Check them out here www.cynthiahickey.com that I pubbed myself, then have the three cozy mysteries that were put out through my agent. Then....shhh, it's a secret but some traditional pubbed books are in the works. I've been writing seriously since 2006. So, can't complain too much about my progress, I suppose. Except today, I've actually gone backward in word count. Yep, you heard me write, uh right. I did some editing and cut out words. Sigh. Good thing I'm ahead of my writing schedule overall.

BUBBLE BLASTER

Good thing writing isn't like Bubble Blaster where one wrong move and you lose. In writing, you can backspace, delete, undo, etc. I had all my plans laid out, one right after the other, and quite proud of the fact, thank you very much. I ebook pubbed all my poor manuscripts that couldn't find homes, put out a romantic suspense under my maiden name (for those of you who like just a little spice, but nothing too dirty). I had it all planned. Then WHAM! God gave me a delightful surprise regarding two stories I had all but given up on. I still can't give you all the details, just know that next year, my readers will have something new to read. And the year after that. All in a genre I was actually getting ready to wave good bye too. God has a way of pointing us in the right direction, doesn't He? Good thing my bubble didn't burst! And oh, yeah. One of these days, I'm still going to start vlogging. Need to get on that.

CHOCOLATE GRAVY RECIPE

3/4 cup of water 3/4 cup of milk 1 cup of flour 1 cup of sugar 2 Tb cocoa Heat water and milk (to touch, not boiling) must be careful not to scorch. Mix together dry ingredients. Add slowly into milk until thick, stirring the whole time. I use a whisk. If not thickening, slowly add small amounts of flour. Is delicious over fresh buttered biscuits or biscuits and peanut butter. Enjoy Southern food at it's finest!