One of the editors at Decadent Publishing informed me that Right Here, Right Now will be released in e-book on Friday, January 6th. This is my second (and last) short story that’s getting published. It’s also my first 100% contemporary romance—there’s no fantasy or paranormal element involved. I don’t usually write in that genre, so I added some S&M to spice it up. Now I’ll be counting the days until it’s released.

Because both of my muses, Alex Pettyfer and Toby Hemingway, are starring in it. Alex inspired The Howling Heart, and Toby inspired A Rose to the Fallen. This is the first time these two handsome talented Brits are in the same film. I wonder if they’ll have any scenes together. I don’t think they will, but I already know I’m going to enjoy watching In Time.

Hallelujah! I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Diane in Dorchester Publishing’s Customer Service. First, I emailed them in September about when submissions would reopen. No answer. Then I emailed them again a few days ago, and this time Diane told me to send my submission to her and she’d forward it to the editorial staff. The notice is still on their site about submissions being closed, but she gave me the green light so I’d get my manuscript in queue before the year is over. So, it seems The Howling Heart has TWO chances of getting published instead of one, and my submissions to publishers are officially over. I’m still waiting for a response from Mills & Boon. Hopefully, I should hear from them within a few weeks. It could take the editor at Dorchester up to 6 months to respond, so I have to play the waiting game for a little longer. I’m just happy I finally got to send my novel to them.

There will be spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t read A Rose to the Fallen and don’t want to be spoiled, I suggest you stop reading now.

Before I get to the point, I want to say to those of you who understood or liked the paranormal weaved throughout A Rose to the Fallen, this post isn’t addressed to you and you don’t have to read it. I’m directing my comments to the people who:

- Don’t get it.
- Think the paranormal didn’t work in the story.
- Think I just threw it in there as an after-thought.
- Think it didn’t make sense that Tristan is an angel. Read more »

Well, I think it’s safe to say my second novel will not be getting published. Tor is not interested. I’m not really surprised. Every day, I would check the mail, looking for that self-addressed stamped envelope I sent them. Low and behold, it came today with a rejection letter inside. I am surprised it didn’t take them 6 months to respond. I was expecting the rejection letter in December, since I mailed my submission in June. Lesson learned: never mail a submission because I’ll just be wasting my money on postage.

I should be receiving a response from Harlequin’s Mills & Boon by the end of November. Stay tuned for that rejection update.

I don’t know what’s going on with Dorchester Publishing. They’ve been closed to submissions since March. I’ll check again next month, but if they don’t reopen in December, then I’m taking them off my list because I’m tired of waiting.

I’m never self-publishing again, so Mills & Boon is probably the end of the road. I want to apologize to all the people who read the 10-chapter free preview I had available for download, and are waiting to read the remaining 8 chapters. I don’t think you’ll get the opportunity. Starting in February, I queried 51 literary agencies and 15 publishers, so no one can say I didn’t try to get The Howling Heart published.