Long time, no blog

For those of you who don’t know (or remember me :-p ) my name is Rose Gordon and once upon a time I wrote historical romance–mostly Regency-era.

Here’s a few visuals…

Me at RT in Chicago 5 *gulp* years ago.

 

 

And when I wasn’t slaving away to write about unsuspecting fellows and their over-scandalous counterparts, I was on here blogging about nonsense like…

Jezzie–the mannequin head my family and I pass around.

 

(The time I fell through the attic on Thanksgiving.)

 

(Crazy stuff I’ve found–and maybe bought…–at the fair or craft mall.)

I also shared on here about my failed attempts at crafts:

Held crazy votes:

 

Or shared stories about my kids:

(100 “signed by author” stickers, plus autograph for 100th day of school; and my kids fighting over a stuffed enema…)

So many of you supported me when I raised $10,000 for MS and looked like an idiot while doing it!

On the bike for the first, but certainly not last, time for the weekend. (Picture blurry to protect the guilty…as well as the innocent.)

Let me share some seriously scandalous “swag” I’ve picked up at different conventions:

 

I had so much fun writing over 600 blog posts whether they were stories about the craziness in which I live, a man’s POV of my books, hosting contests and so much more. I have missed out on so much by not posting very consistently for the past three years. A fact I wish I could change–but some things aren’t things you post. Or at least not things *I* could ever post.

Many don’t know that about 3.5 years ago my world tilted on its axis when the happily-ever-after I believed I was living fell apart. I have gone through fire after fire since and in my own opinion, I think I’ve emerged a much different, and perhaps stronger person.

Am I ready to write romance novels again? No. Maybe one day, but not today.

Am I ready to start blogging about the craziness that I now face with boys who are 10 and 12 and have entered into their first year in public school? Oh, absolutely. (Funny sidetrack: on Halloween my kids left for the school bus 10 minutes earlier than they needed to. Why? Because they could and I was in the shower and couldn’t tell them, “Oh, hell no.” When I got out of the shower, I noticed I had received about 5 texts from my kids. “Mom, we’ve been down here for 5 minutes and haven’t seen a single bus. I don’t think they’re having school today. You know, Halloween is a holiday.” Oh, my poor kids who’ve always been in a church school or heaven help me homeschooled for an overwhelming year. I wrote back: “Wait for the bus. You left 10 minutes early. The bus doesn’t even get there until 7:40 and you usually leave at 7:30. Writing me at 7:25 to tell me you haven’t seen the bus and you think there’s no school in observance of Halloween will be posted to Facebook if you two argue when you get home tonight. 😀 Love ya!”)

So, if you’re up to following my blog to follow more about me and my shenanigans, my crazy parenting, unusual finds, ridiculous signs, craft fails, wild tales and other craziness where truth is stranger than fiction, than please stay tuned and subscribed. (After all, it IS called Rose Unscripted.)

If you followed my blog as a means to keep up with my writing progress and being informed of new books only, I will by no means be disappointed if you’d like to unsubscribe.

Again, I want to thank you all. Whether you’ve been a follower since I started blogging in Feb. 2011 or have subscribed recently, it doesn’t matter, I just appreciate that you’ve enjoyed my work enough to sign up!

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A Thursday Update

1. His Brother’s Bride is done. Kind of. 

I think I’d mentioned I’d finished writing it, and I have. I’ve also done my first round of edits, and passed it onto the editor. I did have an idea or two that I’ll have to change, but otherwise, it is coming along very nicely and will be available in the first half of April.

2. His Contract Bride is now officially an audiobook.

Unfortunately, it’s been “pending” for almost two weeks now. Audible.com said it could take two to three weeks for it to be on sale, so hopefully next week it will be available for download.

3. What’s next?

Since finishing His Brother’s Bride, I’ve been finding myself devoted to several older projects–rereading this, looking at that, opening all the “starts” that I have for different books, etc. I have three other series, two that will have three books, and one that will just have two (so far), plus at least four or five other “standalones” or books that *could* be grouped with a series that already exists. While I’d like to tie up any loose ends such as with Gabriel, Marjorie, Lucy, Elizabeth, Henrietta and Olivia. I think it’s past time I honor my promise of the Officer Series and that’s where I’ll head to first. I have approximately 18,000 words completed on The Officer and the Bostoner, which thrills me to no end since I didn’t think I had that much done. Yesterday I read over what I had written on it for the first time in a year and was gravely disappointed when it came to an abrupt end!

While spending time rereading older works, I realized that some of my earlier books and ideas were just good, old-fashioned love stories: no dark secrets, no haunting pasts, no crippling fears, just two people who fall in love, and I do believe that’s what will come of The Officer and the Bostoner. Nothing more than a happy, comical love story.

Since it’s been about a year since I’ve said anything about this book, I’ll post a copy of the cover just to remind you (and me) what it looks like.

In case you missed it…

A few of my updates and a few reader questions/concerns:

1. Live Chat is a go!

WHEN: March 5, 2013 @ 8-9pm EST (This is a come and go, so come late, leave early, it’s up to you!)

WHERE: On my website. Follow this link.

TOPIC: Open! Bring any questions you might have–I’ll answer what I can!

A huge thanks to those who helped me text this yesterday, it worked great. There was one minor issue, but we got it worked out. So…now I’ll just have to wait and see how it goes on Monday night and pray I don’t hear the crickets chirp while I’m in there alone. Also, if this is a success, I’ll make this a regular thing (once a month?), which means I’ll probably need to come up with some sort of graphic for it!

2. There are 10 copies of His Yankee Bride up to win.

One of the ladies over at Romancing the Book has agreed to take ten printer-tainted copies of my book to give away. If you’d like to find out how to enter to win, please visit their site. I think one way is to leave a comment, which is easy. And since there are very few who’ve entered yet anyway, your chances are great!

Here’s the link:

http://romancing-the-book.com/2013/02/contest-rose-gordon.html

3. Still accepting requests to send books to libraries.

I can also send books and swag to blogs as giveaways or book clubs. Just let me know.

4. Are your ebooks lendable?

Absolutely. All of my books are lending enabled in the bookstores that allow for lending such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. They are of course subject to the “rules” that those bookstores put on books such as how many “loans” can be made of the same book and the duration. But ALL of my books are lending enabled so feel free to share them with a friend.

5. Where else will you be signing books this year, I can’t make it to Kansas City.

This is hard because I don’t know. I will try to update here when new dates come up, but frankly, book signings are hard. They’re hard to schedule and they’re hard to convince people to host. I mainly rely on them at conferences that I attend as they already have everything set up for it all I have to do is sign my name to the list and order books. Right now, I know I am going to RT in May (Kansas City), and there are a few other conferences that I’m considering, but I haven’t registered yet.

Something Not-So-New Sunday

My Something New Sunday post today has been moved to next week due to technical difficulties, or in other words, I was going to present something myself, but my husband didn’t realize I was saving a  particular item and tossed it in the trash, so now I have to wait until my kids go through another jar of jelly.

So…instead I’m going to do some updates (those are new, aren’t they), answer a few reader questions (hopefully one or two will be new), and announce winners (and this WILL be new). So it all works out:

Updates:

• Exciting news! I have found another narrator for two of my audiobooks. The one doing Her Sudden Groom cannot start until later this month, and the one one who is doing the audio for His Contract Bride has already begun, and we should have a book the first half of March!
• More exciting news: His Brother’s Bride is coming along very, very well. I’ll have no difficulty, barring any sort of extreme, having it out in April.
• I am still accepting donations for libraries. In fact, I have now made a page for it on my blog where I’ve listed all 50 states and have put a link to every library that I have sent books to. (Note: the link went up the day the books were mailed, if the library chooses not to accept the books or they have not been processed yet, they will not show up in the catalog, so give them a few weeks.) If you’d like your library to be included, even if I’ve already sent books to your state, please email me with the name of the library system and I’ll see what I can do.
• Even more exciting news (but probably only for me)! While putting up the links to where my books are available in libraries, I got snoopy. I’ll admit it, I snoop around on things and already two library systems have my books available for checkout: Bartlesville Public Library in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and Tulsa City County Library in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And it gets even better, one of the books was already checked out from the Tulsa library! Sounds silly, but for me it was totally cool! Thanks, Tulsa. In all fairness, I did send both of these libraries in December so they had a head start.
• Still taking submissions for guest posts. If you have something interesting you’d like to talk about, a craft to share, or just want to be a star for a day, I’d love to have you on. I’m trying not to make it so inane on here, so since variety is the spice of life, I’d love to feature something unusual or fascinating on here.  Just email me or use the form on the page dedicated to this and we’ll schedule you a day!

Reader Questions:

• Does His Jilted Bride pick up where Her Imperfect Groom ended? Yes and no. It’s a year later, and nothing crucial has happened in between the times. So in other words, no it is not necessary to have read His Contract Bride or His Yankee Bride first.
• Will Henry get a story, if so, when? Henry will be the hero in His Brother’s Bride due out in April, 2013.
• Can Jack, Emma and Marcus’ adopted son, inherit his title, he technically is a male. No. Jack was the son of a daughter of the title, heirs have to be sons of heirs. If Marcus had had a brother, then his brother would have inherited first upon Marcus’ death, then his brother’s son after Marcus’ brother died. Or if Marcus’ brother died before Marcus, it would go straight to Marcus’ nephew at his passing. The title cannot pass to a female, so her children out out. I suppose Marcus and Emma could have tried to lie about the parentage, and being recluses it might have worked except for two things: 1. Emma was seen for a few weeks in London during the Season–this wouldn’t have happened if she were pregnant. 2. While both a bit scandalous and ready to bend rules, neither of them were just outright liars or deceitful. Could they have pulled something like that off? Possibly, if they had the help of friends, but this never entreated the equation. They were flawed characters, to be sure, just not THAT flawed.
• Why did X happen or X not happen in His Jilted Bride? I’ll be glad to answer all questions about this title privately now and will post any questions (with answers) publicly a month after the book has been available. I try not to give out too many spoilers as I realize there are still some people who have not read any of my books and would like to be surprised, but I also realize there are some with questions and it’s easier to answer them publicly so if anyone else has the question, they don’t have to wonder forever or email me if they don’t wish. I prefer to wait to answer publicly to give everyone who might happen by a fair chance to read the book first.
• When will X book be out? Frankly, your guess is often as good as mine. I don’t have any control over that, other than how fast I type–and even that can be a challenge with kids and a family. I can only give estimates, and even those aren’t always guaranteed. I, do, however, have a mailing list you can sign up for that will email you automatically when a new book is available. It also provides direct links to many of the eBookstores for a convenient way to find the book. A sign up form is located at the top right corner of my blog and I have two on my website–on the home page and on the “Book” page. If you cannot get the form to work, email me personally. Believe it or not, I do respond (unless it goes to the Junk folder, then I might miss it…) and I can manually add your name to the list.
• Will you autograph a book for me? Absolutely. The easiest way to do this is to order a book from me here at my website. All books come from me personally and will be signed/personalized. The second best way is to meet me in person! Unfortunately, that’s not a very likely possibility as I am more socially awkward than Alex and Wallace combined and hate going out in public. You can also mail me a copy of your already purchased book and I’d be happy to sign and return it.

That’s all–I think. If you have a question, please feel free to ask. There are NO stupid questions. None.

And now for the giveaway winners from the Sober Stupidity post…

1. Linda S. Merrill

2. Lauralynn Elliott

3. Moonprincess 111

Congrats, ladies, I’ll be emailing you shortly!

Updates, Updates and More Updates

1. His Jilted Bride is currently with proofreader numero dos. From first draft to final product, I have no less five different sets of eyes go over the book to find errors. Why? Because, I want it to be the best it can be. My editor, who actually will be reading this, and so will both proofreaders, literally “goes to town” as I so eloquently tease her, on the MS. In addition to looking for misspellings, grammatical uh-ohs and punctuation mishaps, she double checks words that she think might be questionable for the time period. She’ll leave comments like: I think this sounds better, or do you realize you used the word slow four times in one paragraph? So I correct my document to reflect her suggestions and changes, and hand it off to proofreader number one who fixes any new errors I’ve created based on changing things that the editor suggested, things we both might have overlooked, and highlights questionable statements that she doesn’t think read right (and a few lapses in logic!). Then, I make her corrections and it goes to the last proofreader, which is where it is currently, who looks for any grammatical errors I might have made while making corrections before. Why three people? Because, when there are so many words, it’s very hard to make sure you’ve gotten it all right. One lady was very apprehensive about accepting the role as editor because to her, she then had a vested interest in the book and if someone slammed the editing, it wasn’t just about me, but it was then about her, too. If there are three other people besides me, it allows them each to pick out their strengths and lessens the burden of one person getting it flawless. (Plus, I have a terrible habit of making two errors while correcting one so it helps to have a few back ups.)

So, you should expect to see a post from me sometime Tuesday or Wednesday with the announcement that it’s live.

2. Updating links and information on this blog.

With each new book comes a need to update my website and blog. I’ll be doing this around the first of this month. If you are an author, book reviewer/blogger or anyone else who runs a website and would like to swap links, please email me with your info and I’ll add you to the blog roll. While it won’t generate tons of traffic I’m sure, it does help to see other names of sites that might be of interest.

3. His Brother’s Bride info and what’s next. 

I am about 20,000 words into His Brother’s Bride (Henry’s story) and it is moving along nicely. As promised, barring any more broken fingers or another round of the flu, this should be available in April. So that leaves me with: what’s next?! Well, I’m still debating on how to do this. I really need to write that Oklahoma series. It’s been calling to me for a while now. Unfortunately, I’m not like some people I know who can write multiple books at once. LOL So, what I’m thinking is so that those of you who are only interested in my English/Regency-set books don’t give up hope on me, I think I’ll go back and forth and do one American book, then one Regency, then repeat. It’ll take longer for each series to be completed, but it will certainly allow for the best way to get them both done without neglecting one series entirely in favor of the other.

4. Word goal for 2013. 

This year, I’d like to write 1,000,000 words between my books and blog posts. If I included emails, I’d reach that in three months time, but I’d like to actually write and publish 1,000,000 words so that restricts it only to blog posts and books. If I can find an easy to use bar monitor, I’ll soon be setting one up in the sidebar so you all can keep up with my progress and be sure to wag your finger at me if I start to slow down.

5. New Blog Spotlight

I still plan to continue the Day in a Life and the behind the scenes and what it’s like to be a writer as I have time, but I’m thinking I will add a new feature called, “Something New Sunday” and allow for a guest post each Sunday. This might be a guest post from someone about their hobby or some historical aspect, it will NOT be a blatant sales pitch to go buy books. [Note: if that’s what it becomes I’ll shut this down and continue to bombard you all with my own nonsense stories about my kids and my husband, but I’d really like to bring other people in to showcase their talents and knowledge. If you’d like to sign up for one of these spots, please email me. I’ll be adding a tab at the top  of my blog talking about this later in the week, but would like to give any of you the chance first.]

That’s all! Have a great remainder of your weekend!

A few changes…

I’ve decided to make a few changes regarding my upcoming books (and a few that are already out). The first being the covers:

 

 

There were a few reasons for the change, but the biggest is that I’m known for faceless ladies with large or elegant dresses. Also, kind of like each of my Groom Series, this takes a lady and puts her in a similar dress or in a scene from the book.

With the Groom Series, I tried to make the coves tie in like this:

Sudden: Caroline had blue eyes and wore a silver dress at her wedding.

Reluctant: Emma had to be party to that miserable musicale they put on for Drake (it’s a stretch, but the piano does work… Plus, the girls banged on it enough to give them all a headache and bribe them to stop).

Secondhand: This is the biggest symbol as Juliet wore a green dress with green gloves the night when Drake finally “saw” her and realized she was more than just a simple miss from the village.

Imperfect: I think she wore a similar gown at her wedding, too.

With this set:

Contract: In a literal sense, Edward had her positioned near the window to do her embroidery or whatnot, but in a figurative sense, she was trapped in a room with windows, waiting for the right person (Edward) to let her out and get to experience life herself.

Yankee: The blue writing and dress, and the endless field is how I imagine the indigo plantation in South Carolina might have looked.

Jilted: You’ll just have to wait! Oh, all right, she might be sitting on a settee in a flowery wallpapered room during what might be a critical part of the book, but that’s all I’m saying…

Brother’s: There’s a cottage and that’s all that needs to be known!

There was another reason for the changes and quite simply I just couldn’t imagine Elijah and Henry’s heroines blonde.

Anyway, it was with a lot of thought (and possibly irritation on the part of those whose opinions I solicited), that I decided to make the change. I do apologize to anyone who had their hearts set on one of the former covers, but I think these are for the best.

Also…there will be a slight change coming to the short description for His Jilted Bride. I thought it would go a certain way, but in the last 1/3 of the book, Elijah and Amelia pulled one over on me so the blurb will change marginally. I’ll post the updated blurb here and on my website in the next day or two.

Thanks to all of those Debs who helped me with my cover model dilemma!

 

Updates

Just a few updates:

1. Everyone who was a winner in my giveaway has been contacted. 

If you have NOT received an email or a Facebook message from me, please email me.

If you have not received your prize/book by January 1, 2013, please email me (the exception to this is if you live outside of the USA, naturally your package will take longer, especially since one of them required me to mail it Media Mail).

2. Jilted is rolling right along–thank goodness. 

So here’s a confessional that might be useful to any of you aspiring writers. When I have completed books in queue to be released, it’s easy to write. Why? Because not everything I have done is already out. I still have a safety net. When I no longer have a completed book that I’m holding on to, just ready to publish whenever, I start to get nervous–and being nervous makes it difficult to write.

It took long enough, but finally the inspiration has hit and this book is moving along very nicely now. Let’s just hope it continues.

I think that’s all. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.