Wow, what a month. Between baseball, end-of-school craziness, and the book release & blog tour, I think the dust is finally beginning to settle. Well, except for the fact that my agent called to let me know book #3 is now due a month earlier, because my publisher would like to schedule 2 books for me in 2010! Yay! But…eek! For the next few months I’m going to be The Little Engine That Could…

I have a GREAT contest in the works! (Hint: It involves my agent and/or a barrel of awesome signed books!) So please check in often! I don’t know exactly when we’re going to get started, but I do know it’s going to be a blast.

I’m holding a contest with the amazing Christine Wells, whose next book, WICKED LITTLE GAME, is releasing in July. I’ve had a sneak peek at this story, and it is absolutely fabulous. If you’d like to be entered in the drawing, just visit my extras page.

Hi Everyone!

This is my son’s first baseball tournament weekend. Game at 10:30 today, and if they win, championship game at 1:00! Busy, busy!

But even though I won’t be here much, I’m out and about on the web! Come check out my interview at Robin Bielman’s blog, and my guest blog at Lust in Time, where I’m talking about my personal love triangle experience!

PLUS, my publisher is giving away 5 (count ‘em-FIVE!) copies of A HINT OF WICKED on today’s blog tour stop: http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/. There’s a nice review up at that blog as well! I’m still a little bowled over when I hear someone has actually read the book! LOL!

Okay. Must have more coffee… Was up verrrry late last night writing about hot Highlanders…

Happy Memorial Day to all my fellow Americans!

My son picked the winner! It was Booklover1335! Congrats! Please email me sometime within the next week and Jackie and I will get your book out to you asap.

Thanks for all the book recommendations, everyone. I adored Passion by Lisa Valdez (loved it and it’s on my keeper shelf!), and I’ve read a few of the other authors mentioned (Pam Rosenthal and Jane Lockwood are great) and Laura Kinsale is my absolute idol. But I’m definitely going to check out some of those other authors! I can’t wait! I love me some spicy historicals…

For today’s dose of cuteness–
My 10-year-old son has just discovered email. Allowing him internet access is a little scary, but I know it’s a skill he needs, and he’s obsessed with building his own website. So…we’re working on the parental controls, lol. But anyway, he sent this to me yesterday. It’s so fun watching your kid develop a sense of humor…

P.S. Just showed him this entry and his response: “Mommmmmmm!! Why’d you have to put that on your blog??” Hehe.

It’s Mother’s Day weekend, right? Which means surely, surely, I can take a few hours off to finish Jackie Barbosa’s upcoming release, BEHIND THE RED DOOR! Jackie was kind enough to send me an early copy of the book. I’ve read the first novella, and let me tell you, this is one steamy, romantic, and beautifully written anthology! I hope to have Jackie as a guest here on my blog sometime this month, and I’m hoping she’ll give away a copy of her book, too, so make sure to keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, I’ve gotten a list of 15 more stops on my blog tour from my publicist. Yikes! I don’t think I’ve ever been so social (even internet social!) in my entire life!

AND…last but not least, I received a wonderful early Mother’s Day present from my publisher. Real, beautiful copies of A HINT OF WICKED! Wait…I have to go take a picture of myself holding one of these new and shiny books…be right back…

Here it is:

Because I’m so excited, I’m going to give away a free copy to a random person who signs up for Freebies! Just go to my Bonus Features page, and sign up to receive some freebie promo items from me and a bunch of my favorite authors (Anna Campbell, Kris Kennedy, Christine Wells, Emma Wildes, and Dawn Halliday), and one person who signs up before Sunday at midnight will receive a shiny new copy of A HINT OF WICKED!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND, everyone!

I can’t believe A HINT OF WICKED is set to release in just three weeks’ time! My schedule is crazyinsane for the next few weeks. Not only do I have a book due soon & expecting edits on another & copyedits on yet another, I have a full blog tour schedule planned as well. (Not to mention baseball playoffs, end of school madness, my mom flying into town, and everything else…oh, my blood pressure is rising just thinking about it all!). But I did want to share with you some of the stops I’ll be making on my “tour” because there are going to be TONS of opportunities to win signed books and lots of other goodies. Ready? Okay, here we go:

5/9: Grand Central Cafe
5/18: Visiting with Jackie Barbosa
5/25: Lust in Time
5/28: I Do Not Want to Wait, I Want the Book Now!
5/29: RR&H Novel Thoughts & Book Talk
6/1: Fran Lee’s Romance Blog
6/1: Visiting with Beverley Kendall
6/2: Romance Bandits
6/3: Reading Romance Books
6/5: Feature at Single Minded Women
First Week in June: The Good, The Bad, The Unread
6/7: Risky Regencies
6/9: Grand Central Cafe
6/13: Signing IN PERSON at Orange County RWA
6/14: Signing IN PERSON at Encino Barnes & Noble (12 noon)
6/19: Spotlight at Dark Diva Reviews

Yes…a little busy!

Okay, so this is fun. Goodreads, where people can list and share the books they’ve read and post reviews on all of them. I just joined a couple of days ago, and lo and behold, someone has already read an advance copy of my book and posted a review of it! I’m gobsmacked!

Jennifer Haymore at Goodreads

A Hint of Wicked

reviews: 1
ratings: 10 (avg rating 4.50)

Anyway, I’m thrilled to be on Goodreads, and it seems like a very cool place to connect with other readers and authors, and learn more about the books I’m interested in reading.

Do you ever get paranoid? I tell you, the internet can do that to a person. I don’t know what’s going on, but there’s currently a whole list of things I’m paranoid about!

(1) I get a blunt-sounding email from a friend, and I wonder why she’s angry with me (even though logically I know that it’s impossible to determine tone from email).

(2) My writing critique partner didn’t ask me to critique her latest book. What does it mean? Was my last critique useless? Did I make her angry about something? Did I do something wrong?

(3) Someone on a chat board I’m on posted that she’s ignoring the posts of a certain other poster. I immediately assume it must be me, even though there’s no logical reason for me to think so. We’ve never had a run-in (that I know of!). We’ve always been friendly. But have I said something? Does my personality annoy or offend her? Is it me?! Argh.

I wish there was a pill to take to eliminate paranoia. I don’t need it in my life. But to my friend, my critique partner, and my board-mate: If I upset you, please forgive me! I didn’t mean to! I really like all three of you and don’t want to cause discord! Hugs and chocolate all around! I’ll even splurge on a cafe-mocha-vodka-valium latte (nonfat and sugar free!) for all of us.

Okay, I feel a little better now. Back to writing. I have a deadline in…3 days!

An average day in Jennifer’s life:

6:30: Mr. Haymore wakes me up. I’m not very happy about this and I turn over and try to go back to sleep. He’s forced to yank the covers off me and drag me to the shower.
7:00: Get the kids dressed, breakfast made, lunches made. Make sure everyone’s backpack is ready to go.
8:00: Drive carpool. Me and six kids in my car. Fortunately, I’ve discovered that books on tape is one way to calm them down. We’re currently listening to Lemony Snicket’s The Grim Grotto. Poor Sunny!
8:30: Go to the post office, run to the store to buy a birthday card for the preschooler’s teacher.
9:00: Take the preschooler to school. We arrive late, as usual.
9:30: Get home, finally get a cup of coffee and open my emails. As always, there are bunches of time-consuming issues to deal with and responses to make.
10:30: Finally get to work. Today I’m finishing up edits on a manuscript. I’d like to finish before picking up the preschooler. I don’t.
12:30: Pick up preschooler.
1:00: Pick up the two boys early from school and hurry them home to brush their teeth for dentist appointment.
1:30: Dentist appointment. I have computer propped on my lap in hopes of finishing the edits (I don’t).
3:00: Leave dentist, expressing disappointment in the oldest’s toothbrushing capability. He has four cavities. FOUR!
3:15: Run around like a chicken without its head looking for the middle child’s gear for baseball. He needs about 20 different items for these games, and never can find about half of them. Nor can the oldest find his fencing gloves (which I told him to put in a safe place!).
3:45: Arrive at baseball game in the cold. Bundle up and set computer on my blanket-covered lap in hopes of finishing edits (I don’t). Supervise the oldest doing homework while the game starts. The preschooler finds a friend and is occupied.
5:30: Mr. Haymore arrives at game, which is going fairly well, despite my son having a tantrum because he hasn’t gotten a hit. I immediately leave to take oldest to fencing class.
6:00: Fencing starts. My computer battery dies and there are no plugs (hence I’m still not able to finish those blasted edits!), so I watch my son fence instead.
7:30: Arrive home from fencing. Make dinner, get everyone ready for bed.
8:00: Deal with broken vacuum cleaner. It’s a true family affair as we debug the problem.
9:00: Kids are in bed, I’m exhausted, and…

My writing day begins!!

I mostly write when the house is quiet and no one’s around to use as a distraction. Last night, though, I was sooo tired. Instead of writing 3000 words (my goal) and finishing the edits, I wrote about…oh, zero and got through only about 2/3 of the edits. By by nine, I just couldn’t face any more, so I took a respite and watched the Oscars (Mr. H. DVRed them for me while I was off somewhere writing). Unfortunately, they cut off just as they were about to announce the winner for best actress. I could have cried. Thank goodness for internet…but it still wasn’t the same as seeing it live (well, DVRed, but live to me, anyway!).

Maybe I’ll get that 3000 words written today… Sigh! I tell you, some days I think it’s a miracle I’ve managed to write anything at all…

Pretty much sums up my 2009 so far…