Melissa Maygrove

I'm happy-dancing this morning. I get to help announce the release of The Seventh Man by my kind, beautiful, and talented friend Lisa Buie-Collard. Congratulations, Lisa! :D If the cover doesn't make you want to immediately read this book, the blurb will!

I've been acquainted with David Powers King for several years. But for most of that time, we ran in different circles and only crossed cyber-paths occasionally. I've gotten to know David better over the last few months (he's a great guy, by the way), and I'm stoked to announce the much-anticipated release of WOVEN by Michael Jensen and David Powers King, published by Scholastic. Two unlikely allies must journey across a kingdom in the hopes of thwarting death itself. All his life, Nels has wanted to be a knight of the kingdom of Avërand. Tall and strong, and with a knack for helping those in need, the people of his sleepy little village have even taken to calling him the Knight of Cobblestown. But that was before Nels died, murdered outside his home by a mysterious figure. Now the young hero has awoken as a ghost, invisible to all around him save one person—his only hope for understanding what happened to him—the kingdom’s heir, Princess Tyra. At ...

One of my favorite writing friends, Loni Townsend, just released the first novella of The Cera Chronicles series, titled This World Bites ! Loni is uber-taleneted. Her stories are full of humor, emotion, interesting characters, and clever descriptions. If you've been wanting to sample her writing, This World Bites is a great choice.

My kids and my laptop are calling me. It's time to take a break. I'm on hiatus until further notice. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

*pulls name from hat* Carrie Butler!!! :D Congratulations, Carrie. You win the $15 Amazon gift card! Thanks for playing. :)

Pioneer Hearts , a Facebook group dedicated to western romance, is hosting a month-long Christmas event. Each day, a couple of us authors are posting an excerpt or custom-written scene, along with a recipe and a chance for commenters to win a prize. Not me. I'm going to be different. (C'mon. You could at least act surprised. :P) I couldn't come up with a by-the-seat-of-my-pants scene, and Christmas was not a good time for my characters, so I decided to post some real historical romance instead.

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for Dec ember. Alex's awesome co-hosts for Dec ember are: Heather Gardner,   T. Drecker from Kidbits,   Eva E. Solar at Lilicasplace,   and Patsy Collins! Please stop by their blogs and say thank you.  Trying to balance being an author with being a working wife and mom is tou gh. T hrow in a major holiday and, in just one week, my word count total went from 2,380 to 650. December 's not l ooking much better.