Cherished Witness is now available!

Hi everyone! I’m thrilled to report that the first book in my New Orleans Detective series, Cherished Witness, is available once again, this time at Desert Breeze Publishing. The book has been re-edited and is a little longer than the previous version. I’m so happy to be at Desert Breeze and look forward to the release of the other five books in the series.

Cherished Witness blurb: Kelly Watson, aka Teresa Pastral, threw the Fifth Amendment out the window when she testified against her mob boss husband at his murder trial. Now divorced, she has begun a new life in the Witness Security Program. Only–the mob finds her, thanks to handsome lawman J.T. Romano, who uses her as bait to lure the man who murdered his wife and unborn child to town. To ensure her safety, she is forced to trust J.T., the man who has betrayed her to the mob. But can she also protect her heart?

You can find this ebook here.

The other books in the series and their release dates:

Prime Suspect — February 2010
Chosen Target — June 2010
Beloved Captive — October 2010
Unwilling Accomplice — February 2011
Perfect Partner — June 2011

You can read about all of my books and current projects here.

Finding Jane Doe…

Law enforcement is now turning to social media networks to help them find missing persons. I find this fascinating. This composite picture was made after a woman’s body found in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, USA. She is between 15 and 21 years of age, approximately 5 ft 1/3 inches tall, and weighs between 110 and 135 lbs. If you know who she is, Please call the Anonymous Tip Line at 920-906-4777. More information about this case can be found here.

Other resource for info on missing persons is the Doe Network, found here, and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, found here .

www.melanieatkins.com

Getting Ready to Write…

Unfortunately, I do a lot of that before I can settle down to put words on the page. It irks me! I’m trying hard to be more disciplined, but it is difficult. Old habits, and all that. What keeps you from writing or doing what you need to be doing? What gets in the way? Email? Twitter? Facebook? Social networking aside, life does interfere, whether it’s children, work, or aging parents. I’m pushing myself to make the most of my writing time and get this book finished. Write on!

www.melanieatkins.com

Not writing related, but…

I found worms like these, known in insect circles as tomato horn worms, on my tomato plants this past weekend. Ack! I freaked out at first, because they’re so big and squishy, and they have little sucker things on the bottom that make them hard to pull off the plants. Ewwwww! I hate worms. Anyway, I emailed pictues of the little tomato fiends to my friend Jerome Goddard, who teaches entomology at Mississippi State University, and he identified them for me and told me how to get rid of them. Hello, sevin dust. My plants now look like they’re covered in soot, but the worms are gone. Yay, yay, yay!

These worms just creeped me out. We found five of them, plus one smaller one that was dark green with long black stripes that resembled a catalpa worm.

Now…back to working on my current WIP…a plot with no worms involved. lol

New cover art…

Hi, all! Yesterday I received my first cover from Desert Breeze for my New Orleans Detective series, and I’m thrilled with it. I asked the artist to capture the suspense, and I’d say she succeeded…in spades. I love it! *grinning*

Cherished Witness will be released in September. I’m jazzed, because it’s been a while since I’ve had a full length book out. I’m also excited to be with Desert Breeze. It’s a new company that’s going places. I’m impressed with them all the way around. Can’t wait to share my books with you!

www.melanieatkins.com

New contracts!

Hi everyone,

I’m excited to report that I’ve sold my six book New Orleans Detective series to Desert Breeze Publishing. The first book, Cherished Witness, will come out in September! This book has been released before, by a defunct publisher, but it has been re-edited. I’m so happy it will have new life.

Blurb:
Kelly Watson, aka Teresa Pastral, threw the Fifth Amendment out the window when she testified against her mob boss husband at his murder trial. Now divorced, she has begun a new life in the Witness Security Program. Only–the mob finds her, thanks to handsome lawman J.T. Romano, who uses her as bait to lure the man who murdered his wife and unborn child to town. To ensure her safety, she is forced to trust J.T., the man who has betrayed her to the mob. But can she also protect her heart?

I hope to have cover art soon, and will post it as soon as I get it. The other titles and releasedates are as follows:

Prime Suspect, February 2010
Chosen Target, June 2010
Beloved Captive, October 2010
Unwilling Accomplice, February 2011
Perfect Partner, June 2011

Needless to say, I’m thrilled. You can check out Desert Breeze here and my website here.

And we have a winner!

Debra St. John’s name was drawn as the winner of the Barnes and Nobles gift card. Debra, I’ll attempt to email you for your mailing info. Or you can email me at melanieatkins@comcast.net. Congratulations!

Thanks to all who visited my blog yesterday and today during our Blog Bouquet. Hope you’ll check back from time to time and keep up with my writing.

Stop & Smell the Roses Blog Bouquet

The Great Escape

Right now, times are tough. People are losing their jobs, housing starts are down, and the price of gas is rising. On top of that, it’s summertime. . .and here in the Deep South, it’s blazing hot already and it’s only June. What better time to escape into a good book?

The Wild Rose Press and its sister company, White Rose Publishing, have books in every romance genre in both e-book and print formats. No matter what type of romance you prefer, from suspense to inspirational to historical, and more, we have a book for you at The Wild Rose Press (www.wildrosepress.com). My romantic suspense, SKELETON BAYOU, is due out in mid-December. Here’s a blurb about the story:

Savannah Love is emotionally and physically battered, but is determined to survive after escaping the hellish imprisonment imposed on her by her psychotic cop-husband. After seven months in hiding, she resurfaces at Mossy Oak, her ramshackle family home on a Louisiana bayou, and attempts to restart her life. The empty house provides shelter, but isn’t the fortress she needs when her cruel ex comes calling.

Mack O’Malley, former cop turned handyman conflicted over a bad shoot on the job, comes to Savannah’s rescue when the psychopath draws them into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Fearful of Mack at first, she soon discovers that beneath his steely exterior lies a resolute defender with a heart hungry for love. Will their alliance save them, or will they fall victim to the Legend of Skeleton Bayou?

I’m extremely excited about this new release and hope you’ll check it out. This week, to celebrate finally reaching the six month mark before SKELETON BAYOU is published, I’m giving away a Barnes & Noble gift card to one lucky person who comments on this blog. To have a chance to win, tell me which type of romance you prefer, and why. I’ll put the names of everyone who posts into a hat and draw a winner tomorrow morning, Tuesday, June 23, at 10:00 a.m. So be sure and post for a chance to win!

Visit all 20 Wild Rose Press blogs listed below in 24 hours to learn about more fabulous prizes that are up for grabs. Our authors have the books you want. Escape is good. . .and reading can make the world go away. So smile and choose the story that’s right for you.

Here’s a complete list of blogs to visit today:

http://AnnWhitaker.blogspot.com
http://bethcaudill.blogspot.com
http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com
http://catemasters.blogspot.com
http://christinecolumbus.blogspot.com
http://donnamichaelsauthor.blogspot.com
http://happyendingsblog.com
http://kyAnnwaters.blogspot.com
http://laurirobinson.blogspot.com
http://lindabanche.blogspot.com
http://lynnreynolds.blogspot.com
http://marywritesromance.blogspot.com
http://melanieatkins.wordpress.com
http://missmaesite.blogspot.com
http://nicolemccaffrey.blogspot.com
http://plparker.blogspot.com
http://romanticcravings.blogspot.com
http://roniadams.blogspot.com
http://sherilewiswohl.wordpress.com
http://skypuringtonwrites.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading my blog! You can find an excerpt from SKELETON BAYOU and learn more about me and all of my books at http://www.melanieatkins.com.

Waiting…is so much fun.

I’m currently waiting to hear from several submissions I have out, two with small press and one with my dream publisher. Waiting is so much fun. I found this video about the publishing industry on Youtube and just cracked up. Hope you enjoy it, too!

www.melanieatkins.com

Guest Blogger Anna Louise Lucia

Grow Your Own

Has anyone else really got into the big ‘grow your own’ push lately? I’ve always loved gardening, and for two blissful but short years had the loan of an allotment and did the vegetable thing then. But for most of the time we’ve had our own home, we’ve been a bit lacking in the garden department. We have a postage stamp front garden, half of which I turned from an overgrown car port into a mad jumble of cottage garden faithfuls, delphiniums cheek by blossoming jowl with roses, clematis, granny’s bonnet and cat mint. The other half is…. fallow. *looks embarrassed*. Yes, that’s what we’ll call it. It’s lying fallow…

But this year, I’ve really gone for the vegetables in containers thing. I have courgettes (zucchinis) in a galvanised trough, tomatoes in a window box propped up on logs, lettuces anywhere I can find a space, and potatoes in some specially bought extra-deep bags. The potatoes are already going great guns, although no-one seems to have told the FIRST earlies that they’re supposed to be farther on than the SECOND earlies… the main crop potatoes know their place, though, and are following on in sedate fashion, secure in the knowledge they won’t be harvested until late summer/early autumn. Occasionally I can be found in the back yard, going, “STOP growing so fast! I’m running out of compost!” at the potato bags.

And then there are the herbs. Now herbs are not a new departure for me, far from it. That front cottage garden patch has marjoram, parsley, mint, sage and chives. The thyme’s never quite lasted through our soggy winters, though. Now in the back I’ve planted more sage, more marjoram, and three different thymes. I’ve also decided to risk sowing coriander, a herb I use a bunch of (no pun intended) in summer, but I’ve never had a lot of luck with annual herbs…

(STOP PRESS – my bad luck continues. I was in the kitchen when I heard Husband mutter, “I can’t believe we’ve got weeds germinating in here already…” Although I flew out the door, and risked my neck across the slippery sandstone flags, I wasn’t quick enough to stop him ‘weeding’ the new sprouts of coriander. Back to the ol’ drawing board. On the plus side, we fell about the place laughing…)

I’ve always avoided doing a lot of container vegetable gardening, because of the maintenance. Feed and water, keep an eye on pests, treat organically when they show up. I know how easy it is for a plant to get stressed if it’s had to wait an extra day for a good soak, and then suddenly you’re picking aphids out of your salad have a really successful slug farm. I thought I didn’t have time, and probably couldn’t be relied on. I hated the thought of plants lacking care, and going to waste.

So I didn’t grow any plants.

Hmmm.

I’m spotting a familiar refrain, here.

You see, I know first hand that it’s very easy to avoid the things you’re afraid you’ll fail at. It’s easy to keep on polishing that manuscript instead of submitting it. Easy to carry on writing the things you KNOW you can do, when you really, really want to write that something different.

It’s easy to say, “this book will be rejected, so I’m not going to try.”

Dangerous Lies was very nearly the vegetable that was never grown. Somehow, in spite of the protestations of critique partners, I’d convinced myself that it sucked. It took a great read from the wonderful Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writer’s Scheme, and a few other little kicks up the backside, to convince me it was worth a try. I submitted it, and it sold on proposal, a few weeks later.

So what are you going to ‘Grow Your Own’ of, in the garden, or in your life? Leave a comment, and I’ll pick a winner to receive a signed copy of Dangerous Lies!

Anna Louise Lucia’s latest book, Dangerous Lies, is out now. “Marianne Forster was only spending time with a gorgeous man in the hot sun of Morocco. It wasn’t anything more than that… until she was kidnapped on the way home.”

All About Romance awarded Dangerous Lies an ‘A’ review, and their ‘Desert Isle Keeper’ status, saying, “Holy golly Moses. I’ve never put a publishing company on my auto buy list, but if this is what Medallion is putting out, considering the other recent stellar reviews here at AAR, I might just have to change my mind.”