Back to normal?

Not quite back to normal. But getting there! The WIP is coming on nicely, though of course the real test will be when I send it out. I can't not write, or I get edgy. But with the whole family around it's hard to find time to do some decent writing.
I'm branching out into contemporaries. No paranormal involved, and I have the concept for a new series that I'm going to start in the new year.
I can't wait, but I do have to finalise a few things. Like the last Pure Wildfire book, and the last Triple Countess book, and the next Dept 57.

Happy Holidays!

I do hope everyone has a happy and peaceful time this year, and a really good 2008.
I've had a torrid time recently, writing-wise. Edits, and a new contract with Loose Id for the next Department 57 book, "Topaz Delirium." I sent "Moonfire" in to my editor at Ellora's Cave, and I'm writing "Thunderfire," as well as an exciting new venture I can't even think about yet.
I can't believe this year is nearly over, but I'll do a roundup nearer to the end of the year. Torrid is a pretty good description!

Romance?

I came to a big decision recently. Well, for me, anyway.
I've been reading some great books, but although they're called 'romances' the romance is a bit, well, distant. Or it's based on lust, and by the end of the story I'm not entirely convinced these two were made for each other. They just fancy each other like mad, but they don't really know each other. And then there are the 'fated mates' stories where biology dictates that they get together and their desire is overwhelming. So in theory, they could hate each other's guts and still go on bonking their little hears out.
So, I'm putting the romance back. Or, trying to. I pledge that the couples (or threesomes occasionally) are going to fall in love. They will go through the process. True, in the case of my paranormal beings, they might be a bit faster, because they can read each other's minds, but they will fall in love. No 'fated mates,' no lust instead of love (although they will probably lust the hell out of each other because that's part of falling), no adventure that overwhelms the romance, although you know me, there will still be adventure!
2008 will be, for me, the return of the romance.

How do you keep it going when times are tough?

It's a question I've been thinking about for the last few days. The Triskelion closure hit me harder than I wanted to admit, even to myself. I kept going, delighted when other publishers took my work, but looking back at what I wrote in this time, the strain shows, it really does.
I wrote two books I'm not happy with and I'm currently in the process of rewriting heavily, to the point of making them new. They just weren't up to what I usually write, and I don't understand why I couldn't see it at the time, except that I didn't. I presume it was all the fuss when Triskelion went into bankruptcy, because the rest of my life is as it always was. Stress is a funny thing and sometimes you think you're coping when you're not, but now, I think it's getting better because I can feel it in myself. I'm very tired, still, but that comes with insomnia, but I'm beginning to sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. And being British, I hate complaining. A national trait, or it used to be and as a nation we're still not brilliant at complaining.