merry xmas and etc.

Happy holidays, everyone. I'm a little tired of Christmas materialism, but I do wish everyone a happy time with family and friends. Did you know that in the Regency, Christmas wasn't that big a deal; New Year's was the important holiday. People gave New Year's gifts and had parties and feasts. Actually, that tradtion went back a long, long time. Our emphasis on Christmas is relatively new; only a hundred years or so old (those nutty Victorians.)

Anyway, no rest for the writer. Am still revising Murder in High Places, but nearly finished. Hope to have that printed and turned in by Monday.

The Care and Feeding of Pirates will be out soon, and I"m so excited! I'm also nervous as heck because I think it's my best book, the publisher is excited, and if it doesn't do well, I'll just cry and cry. Hoping for the best.

Take care
Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com

sunset, another ms finished

Here's the sunset I just snapped outside my window (ok, ten minutes ago)

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I finished the draft of Murder in High Places. Finally. Sheesh. Took me long enough. Now to revise, but the hard part is done. I sat down and wrote 7K words today. And finished my xmas shopping. :)

Am exhausted now. Can hardly feel my fingers.

Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com

web sites, manuscripts, and christmas shopping

I'm trying to update and clean up my www.jennifersromances.com site, so forgive some wierdness if you go there.

I am nearly finished with Murder in High Places. Sent the first 100 revised pages off to my crit. partner; trying to revise the second 100 pages. Then I need to write the ending.

Tried to go Christmas shopping today, but after three jaguars and a Lexus nearly ran me down at the upscale shopping center, I quit. I had forgotten all of my discount coupons and cards and so forth anyway. Christmas shopping can be so dangerous.

The cat is better. She has decided she will not eat the food she's liked for most of her life. We've tried various foods and finally found what she will eat--Iams senior canned chicken and rice. My theory is that because she's old, she has trouble smelling. Some cats don't like to eat what they can't smell. Iams chicken and rice stinks to high heaven, so she eats it. Cats rely on their olfactory senses quite a lot; it must be handicapping for her to lose that. But she's eating (knock on wood), and back to her usual perky self.

I got another offer from Dorchester for three more historical romances, plus a contemporary novella for next year's Xmas anthology. I'm thrilled!

The Dorchester site also excerpted The Care and Feeding of Pirates, so that's cool. This is the first of my books that they've excerpted on their site. The same excerpt is on my own site under "Excerpts". (isn't that clever?)

Take care. I'm exhausted and it's only the 10th!!

Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com
aka Ashley Gardner
www.gardnermysteries.com

new books and excerpt

My cat is better. I think she gets deathly ill just to make me crazy. Once I'm a screaming lunatic, she suddenly decides to be fine. She's eating now, hopefully she'll continue and gain some of her weight back. Cats!

On Tuesday, The Glass House (book 3 of Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries by Ashley Gardner) is due to hit the bookstores. That reminds me, I need to put my newsletter together to mail out. The cover is gorgeous. I continue to pound away on Book 5, Murder in High Places. I am almost, almost done. I had to beg my editor for more time. I am so ashamed. :-)

An excerpt of The Care and Feeding of Pirates is also up on my Jennifer Ashley site at:
http://jennifersromances.com/Excerpts.html

That's all from crazy author land today!

Jennifer
www.jennifersromances.com
www.gardnermysteries.com

cat care and other things

Been distracted by the cat. All her tests at the vet are negative, and they'd like to do an ultrasound. Kitty isn't barfing any more, but she doesn't have much appetite. And when she does eat, she afterward looks like she regrets it (like, "oh man, shouldn't have done that"). Plus she's now favoring her left hind leg. Doesn't hurt her, but it doesn't support her weight, and she looks surprised when she falls.

I'm thinking she's got something going on with her digestive system, be it she swallowed a rubber band or it's cancer. I'm waiting to let her calm down from the last trauma of going to the vet, then we'll take her back for the ultrasound. I hope it's simple, but if it's serious, she's an old kitty (sixteen) and has had a good run. Sigh.

As for writing, I'm finishing looking at the copy edits of Sudbury School Murders and sending it back tomorrow. Then back to finishing High Places. I have about 20K words to go on it.

The Glass House is out next week! It's already getting some good reviews from Romantic Times, The Best Reviews, and RomanceReadersConnection. Many romance readers like this series, which pleases me. After all, I did take a romance hero and make him a mystery sleuth. :-)

Jennifer Ashley
www.jennifersromances.com
Ashley Gardner
www.gardnermysteries.com