Today was a gorgeous, spectacular Spring day, right smack in the middle of winter. I was going to work in the car at lunch time but then I decided I’d go for a walk with a buddy from work. Oh, it was beautiful out!
There’s a park near where I work that has a smallish forest-y area with several paths and a quite respectable creek. The oak trees are so big you’d need three or more people to get your arms all the way around the trunks. It’s a pretty walk and doesn’t take any more than 20 minutes or so. The creek was full of rushing water, and we were walking in the huge shady oaks, where, I am quite sure, Robin Hood lurks. And we ran into an older gentleman and his dog Cookie. He walks there just about every day, and after a few times seeing each other we got to be talking, and petting his dog. I suspect he has early stage Parkinson’s, and he and his dog are always quite sedate. I started picking up crunchy little sticks for Cookie to chew on when we met. One day we saw her and I called out "It’s Cookie!" and she came running down the path to get the stick from me, all happy and goofy the way dogs do sometimes. Who knew she had so much perkiness in her? She’s a bit of an elderly dog herself. Now we bring her dog biscuits and she REALLY loves us. So I had a lovely walk on a lovely day and I got to give Cookie some biscuits and scratch her ears and chat a bit. Not too bad for a lunch hour!
Now I’m working on Xia and pushing 40K words and getting a bit nervous about how much I’ll need to be ripping out later. I don’t have them nailed yet, so there will be massive editing to come I expect. And yet I don’t feel too bad about things right now. I imagine that will come. Cue the ominous music: Dun dun DUNNN!
Also, here’s a look at the cover for My Wicked Enemy. I need to find a graphics tool for the Mac so I can update my website! They touched up the flames quite a lot since they sent this, and the woman’s shirt has been fixed up so the almost-final is even more hot than this. But pretty awesome, huh?
Here’s the cover copy:
Carson Philips is a witch on the run. For years the notorious mage Alvaro Magellan has held her as his psychological prisoner. But once Carson gets a glimpse of the true extent of his evil, she flees Magellan’s mansion— stealing a stone talisman of unimaginable power on the way. Her only hope for survival is a demon who ignites a voracious hunger in her she can’t deny, a longing she can’t resist. . .
Nikodemus is a warlord with a mission. Kill Magellan and his green-eyed witch at any cost. But when he meets the desperate Carson, the pull of her magic takes his breath away. He’s not sure he can trust this tantalizing woman— she is his enemy — and less sure he can keep his hands off her. But Magellan will stop at nothing to reclaim what belongs to him. Can Nikodemus save Carson before his desire for her destroys them both?
