Friday, May 30, 2008

Debut Author's Book, The Hunted


I just wanted to let all my readers know about a blog tour featuring debut author, Mike Dellosso. In the midst of gearing up for the launch of his first book, Mike was diagnosed with colon cancer. Read the interview at the end of this post to see how he has risen to this challenge.


Mike Dellosso
THE HUNTED (rated 5 stars on Amazon)

A town’s deadly secret will drive one man to the edge of his faith…

After learning of the disappearance of his nephew, Joe Saunders returns to his childhood home of Dark Hills to aid in the search effort. When Caleb is found, badly mauled and clinging to life, Joe embarks on a mission to find the beast responsible. But the more Joe delves into the fabric of his old hometown, the more he realizes Dark Hills has a dark secret, shrouded for three generations in a deadly code of silence. As Joe unravels the truth behind a series of unexplained animal attacks, murder, and corruption at the highest level of law enforcement, he is led to a final showdown where he must entrust his very life into God's hands.


To read an excerpt of this book, just click on the link: Chapter One


If this whets your appetite, you can order a copy of Mike's book, by going directly to Amazon


If you'd like to read more about Mike and his road to publishing, here's an interview:

What do you do to pay the bills?
I’ve been a physical therapist assistant for 10 years.

Will you share a little bit about your family?
I’ve been married to my lovely and supportive wife, Jen, for 10 years. We’ve been blessed with three daughters ages 5, 6, and 8. All fun-loving, sweet-spirited, and of course always well-behaved (ahem).

What do you like to do when you’re not working, writing (which is work!), churching, or familysizing?
Read and fool around with my website. Oh, I also mow the lawn, trim the hedges, paint the porch, replace rotted boards, and all that other fun stuff homeowners do to pass the time away. Actually, I’m pretty boring (except when Toby Mac is in the CD player).

A full-time job, church involvement, family life, writing books: How do you do it all?
Very carefully. Seriously. God’s blessed me with time management skills and I make use of my time wisely. Of course, there’s the tendency to get over involved and that’s when I need to take a step back and re-evaluate what I’m doing. But careful management of time is key. Make the most of every minute.

Tell me about when you were diagnosed with cancer.
Yeah, cancer. Kind of a big thing. I was diagnosed on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day. Here I was getting ready to launch into trying my hand at promoting my new book and in the middle of negotiating a contract for a second book when the doctor dropped the bomb: You have colon cancer.

Funny thing is, I don’t remember ordering colon cancer. Not part of my plans at all.

How has that diagnosis affected your writing?
How has it affected my writing? Well, immediately, it’s halted my writing. With the exception of daily journaling on my blog, I haven’t written a lick since being diagnosed. I love to write, it’s my passion, but this cancer thing trumps it. I took this diagnosis as a nudge from God that I need to set writing aside for a little while and just concentrate on the most important things: my relationship with Him and my relationship with my family. Sometimes it takes something like cancer to refocus you, to get you to evaluate your life and do a little re-prioritizing.

In the long run, I think the experience of traveling through this valley will only enhance my writing, give it more depth, more texture, more emotion and passion. I know firsthand what it’s like to traverse that Valley of the Shadow of Death, to question Why me?, to be scared of dying, not for dying’s sake but for my family’s sake, to live with a monster inside me that wants to kill me (hey, that gives me a great story idea), to be poked, prodded, scoped, and stuck, to live a life that revolves around the next test result or the next doctor’s appointment. I’ve been there now and I can incorporate those experiences into my stories, into the life of my characters. It’ll be interesting to see how my writing changes once I get back to it.

What is one thing your diagnosis has taught you?
One other thing I’ve learned is to fully rely on God, to willingly submit myself and put my life in His hands. And of course, this carries over into my writing as well. We writers never know where the next contract is coming from or how much the next royalty check will be for, or even how the next story will unfold, if there is a next story. We are constantly at His mercy, and I’m learning that’s a good place to be.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Making of a Gentleman


I'm re-posting this entry, so that all my Amazon readers have a chance to view it.

Here's the cover of my next book, out in stores August.

This is the beginning of a new regency series (not part of my
Winter Is Past series). This begins the story of a brother and sister, Damien and Florence Hathaway. The Making of a Gentleman is Florence's story. It tells about her encounter with a prisoner from Newgate who narrowly escapes the hangman's noose.

Right now, I'm finishing her brother's story, A Bride of Honor. Damien Hathaway is a shy curate with a slight disability which makes him sure no woman will fall in love with him, much less a young lady of the London ton.

To pre-order The Making of a Gentleman, click here

Friday, May 23, 2008

The Making of a Gentleman


Here's the cover of my next book, out in stores August.

This is the beginning of a new regency series (not part of my
Winter Is Past series). This begins the story of a brother and sister, Damien and Florence Hathaway. The Making of a Gentleman is Florence's story. It tells about her encounter with a prisoner from Newgate who narrowly escapes the hangman's noose.

Right now, I'm finishing her brother's story, A Bride of Honor. Damien Hathaway is a shy curate with a slight disability which makes him sure no woman will fall in love with him, much less a young lady of the London ton.

To pre-order The Making of a Gentleman, click here

Friday, May 16, 2008

Paris in May



I'm in the process of rewriting my current manuscript, a process that I had dreaded because that first read-through can be a painful process. I hadn't read my manuscript since I'd started writing it, so I had no idea if what I had written would stink thoroughly. Was the pacing good? The characters' motivation? Was there anything salvageable?

Thank goodness, I've gotten halfway through the manuscript and my instincts tell me the story flows. I'm getting back into my hero and heroine's story, their angst and uncertainties. I'm rewriting, of course, tightening up things here and there; deleting unnecessary lines and paragraphs, but for the most part, I'm allowing their story to remain. The bones are good.

I've included a photo of a recent trip I took to Paris. Four days in Paris in May: bliss. The weather was perfect, the temperatures warm. The real tourist season hadn't started. The college students were all over the place. So many junior year abroad American and Canadian students wandering around the Left Bank. I was there twenty-nine years ago, rushing around from one end of the city to another going to classes at the different branches of the University of Paris including the Sorbonne. On this visit, I stayed with my former roommate. She met a Frenchman that year and came back to marry him after graduation.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Great Chat Yesterday on Writers At Play!


Many of us Love Inspired Historical and other Harlequin authors had a great day on the Writers at Play blog, where Editor Melissa Endlich offered tips to aspiring writers.
Congratulations to Jenny in Australia for winning a copy of my latest book, Hearts in the Highlands! Hope you enjoy it.

Due to this all-day chat, Writers at Play received over 3500 hits yesterday! A heartfelt thanks to Love Inspired Historical author Carla Capshaw for organizing this promotional blitz.

Congratulations also to Renee and Teresa who also recently won copies of my books on my guest interview over at Linda Ford's blog!