Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

No issues getting home from my jam-packed trip to St. Paul for work. I think we fell into bed around midnight last night, which makes for a long day. I’ve got a load of laundry going, the monsters picked out their Build-A-Bear animals (so I didn’t have to bring home goodies on the plane), picked up the dog from the kennel (That Man refuses to keep him home if I’m not here), and I even made a trip to Bath and Body Works at the mall.

What a great trip. I miss Minnesota already. I definitely miss Wanda and all my friends and co-workers. Sigh. Sis, I think I could use a hug!!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3

This is it, gang. I thought I might get one more section of this little story, but Gregar is tired of remembering the past and he dreads the future even more. He much prefers where…and what he’s doing…in Road. So this is the final snippet of The Shadowed Blood.

I would have her live at any cost.

How arrogant and grand a promise when he did not yet know the cost. Sitting on the sandy shore, Gregar stared out over the silvered waters and fought. He fought his pride, his honor, his gift of Death, even his love.

If his control slipped a single moment, he would kill her. Yet he could not bear to let her go. Rocking slightly, he rolled the rahke back and forth across his palm, watching the moonlight gleam on the ivory.

Such a terrible cost. He had thought seeing her alive and well would be enough, but he had not expected her to go to another warrior, let alone his friend, while he was forced to watch from afar, silent and unapproachable.

She may never know your love.

The waters rippled but no breeze stirred his hair. Crystal water clouded to a shadowy murk, sinking within itself to reveal a window. One glimpse of the woman

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Jayne at Dear Author gave The Fire Within a great review here. About Keldar, she says:

There

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

This was fun. I used to type 120 wpm back in high school. I might have done better without the laptop keyboard. I’ve taught myself to be a little more careful because my finger tips catch under the key and pop it off. (I broke “k” off entirely on the old laptop.) How fast do you type?

105 wordsSpeed test

Link courtsey of Michelle.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Today, I’m guest blogging over at Southern Fried Chicas with a “Behind the Book” tale for The Rose of Shanhasson. Commenters will be entered to win a free electronic copy of Rose!

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

The fifteenth floor of the hotel is sweltering. I have my window open, listening to the traffic of downtown St. Paul. It sounds strangely familiar, since we lived in an apartment here for over a year before Princess Monster was born, directly across the street from the fire/police station and across the freeway from a hospital.

Work has been crazy but fun as I get to catch up with people I haven’t seen in months, and some I’ve only talked to on the phone and never met face to face. Today I have a 3 hour meeting and then another 1 1/2 hour meeting in the afternoon. Sounds like fun, huh? Meanwhile, of course, I have tons of programming, reading, and documentation tasks I need to complete. I typically have to “go home” to get my “normal” work done.

I’ve been getting up at 4:00 a.m. so I can write. Yesterday I got 1264 words and finished a 713 word guest blog which will go up at Southern Fried Chicas Wednesday (huge thank you to Tanya for the invite!). Today I got 1315 words. Gregar is pleased but also pushing me harder. I was hoping to get 10K this week, and a total of 50K by the end of the month. I can make it, if I can keep up this pace.

Tonight I have dinner plans with several people from work so I have no idea how late we’ll be out. Getting up at the butt crack of dawn has only been possible because I’ve been going to bed well before 10:00. We’ll see if I can make it tomorrow morning. I meant to go to bed at 9:00 last night but HAD to finish The Duke of Shadows. Oh, dear, how I bawled. Even Passion didn’t make my blubber so much. THAT is the reason I haven’t been able to get my arms around RHP, because I want that kind of emotion and characterization in the story. Unfortunately, my character was named Emmaline too. So her name will be changing when I get back to those revisions.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

I’m writing this blog entry from lovely St. Paul, MN where I’ll spend the week visiting the Evil Day Job home office. Some notes about the trip up here:

1. Despite our lawn needing to be mowed, it was SNOWING when we left the house this morning.
2. We left the house at 4:30 a.m. so we could eat breakfast together at the IHOP. It’s tradition.
3. It was FRIGID on the plane. After a few minutes, the pilot came on the speaker and informed us the heater was broken, but he assured us the plane would warm once we were in the air. Oh, goody, it’s always comforting to hear that something is BROKEN on the AIRPLANE. Even something as little as a heater.
4. A few minutes later, the pilot came on the speaker again and said that since it was so cold on the plane, they’d emptied the water reservoir to ensure it didn’t freeze. (Yes, it was that cold.) And so they couldn’t make coffee. I’ve been up since 4:00 a.m. and there’s no coffee??? *dies*
5. The flight was uneventful (and warm once we were in the air). I’m reading Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran.
6. After landing, we sat on the tarmac for 10-15 minutes or longer. I don’t know exactly. I did say I was reading. But Wanda definitely had to wait on me to hike out of Concourse C and find my baggage.
7. Wanda and I spent an incredible day talking, shopping, drinking coffee, talking, eating, talking, talking books, talking…
8. So far, I haven’t needed my jacket HERE although there is still snow on the ground in places. Okay, I did get a little chilly after dinner, but it was still bright and sunny.
9. I’m heading to bed shortly because I plan on getting up around 4:00 a.m. tomorrow to write before getting read for work. Yes, I am insane but Gregar is adamant. My biggest worry is that Caribou Coffee doesn’t open until 6:00 a.m. and so I’ll have to drink hotel swill.

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Dandelion at The Long and Short of It reviewed The Fire Within:

Despite the physical, emotional, and psychological torment Eleni and Zahak must endure, the way they find hope and power in each other is inspiring. Ms. Burkhart has created a strong story that will leave a lasting impression on her readers. If you

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Week 1
Week2
Hot off the press again, but it took all evening to get through this. I couldn’t decide where to stop, and ended up doubling the length. It needs some work, but here’s the next installment.

Wrapped in the Shadow of Death, Gregar crouched in the waist-high grass, invisible to the two warriors standing not ten paces from him. In the distance, thousands of tents dotted the foothills with the thrice-crowned Mountain rearing up in the distance. This night, Vulkar

Originally published at Joely Sue Burkhart. You can comment here or there.

Ann did a review of The Fire Within – Thursday Thirteen style! The full review is here (scroll down beneath Larissa Ione’s awesome Pleasure Unbound.

The author- has been sharing snippets and encouragement with me for almost two years now (that’s how long I’ve been blogging- not her), and I