NEW COVER

Done by the amazing Tracey Soxie weston

Today I Am...

Today I'm working on The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes... I have 5 days to try and get it finished in... as on the 6th of March I need to work on the following:

Hidden Hearts 3: Going By The Book

Lancaster's way 3: Pre-loved

Moon Runners 2: I Won't let You Go

PS: Happy first day back at uni to my daughter, Emily S who is studying Law. May today be the start of a great year.

Holy Guacamole...

**RANT ON** I think I should seriously consider taking up drinking... that's how shitty my life is going right now... actually it's not even shitty... it's more I have so much to do and no time to do it in... I seem to be run off my feet and getting nowhere. This has been my day thus far... Centrelink needs a copy of my mother's marriage certificate (she got married in 1953)... because she is married in another state I have to apply on line... they will only accept certain size file, but the info they want is bigger than the size allowable. So Centrelink tells me, instead of a MC to go and get my mum (who is 84) an 18+ card (photo Id) so I had to drive two towns over to the City of Ipswich's Queensland Transport Department and apply for the Id... they won't do the Id without a copy of her marriage certificate... it's a no win situation. **RANT OVER**

I just filled in the BIF for Wardens of the Guild 1: The Real You... I'll let you know when I actually sign the contract with Pride.

I'm also doing Galley Proof on The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance... for Fireborn.

So Much To Do & No Fricken Time.

I've been so busy for the last two months that I haven't had time to get hardly any writing done... I've been dealing with Accountants, Tax Office, Doctors, High School, University, and Centrelink... I haven't even had time to scratch myself.

I've just heard that Wardens Of The Guild 1: The Real You is going to be offered a contract by Pride Publishing... I'm filling in the BIF as we speak, and will send back to the awesome Faith BB tomorrow. I will finish and submit The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes by March 5th.

I've also just completed EIC edits on The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance and sent them back to the amazing Kathy K at Fireborn Publishing.

I think we are will be up to Galley Proof on Intended Mates 1: Lay Your Body Down next... The wonderful Christie N will be sure to let me know what's going on.

I Have Been Slack & This Is Why...

I'm not sure if you all know, but February 2nd was my 47th birthday. 

I got a gift...

This was not a gift I wanted...

This is what I got: $100,000.00 tax bill... I'm not sure I'm over the shock of it yet. This is all because when my husband moved to New Zealand for work he got a dividend from our Australian business (construction company) and it put us in the next income tax bracket... hence the fricken huge bill.

On a good note they tell me the taxes I do in 2016 I won't have to pay anything as my Husband will have everything done in NZ. So if you don't hear from me for the next little bit. I'll be dealing with the ATO and trying to scrape together as much as I can to pay this damn bill.

In other news... Yes I'm still working on The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes... I hope to have it finished by the end of next week. I have been doing edits on Intended Mates 1: Lay Your Body Down (which I've just signed a contract for)... Also I have been doing edits on The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance... So I haven't been completely slacking off and freaking out. I'm still waiting to hear back about Wardens Of The Guild 1: The Real You...

Updates ~ Well, Kind Of...

Okay, I know everyone is wondering if I'm up to date on everything I have set out to do this year... well the answer is 'NO'. But, I'll have caught up by the end of Feb... I have kept up to date mostly in longhand... I just haven't typed it all up on the computer.

The Lines Of Marsden 4: The Trail Of Red Roses... I am on track, and even wording it so the short offshoot Christmas novella at the end of the year... I feel good about this storyline.

Moon Runners 2: I Won't Let You Go... I have just over half of this written, but need to go back through and rewrite a whole section as it doesn't make sense, and I have no idea what it has to do with the story itself... I hate it when that happens.

Lancaster's Way 3: Pre-loved...This is up to date and all written in longhand. I have no excuse except to say that I have been suffering a bout of bronchitis and hadn't been on the computer for five days... so the ones in long hand will continue to be written in longhand until I find the time to type everything up.

The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes... This story has been one drama after another. I just can't get it right. I keep getting close to finishing, then pulling it apart and redoing it all over again ~ frustrating as hell I can tell you.

Still waiting to hear back on Intended Mates 1: Lay Your Body Down... and Wardens Of The Guild 1: The Real You...

Today I'm Over At....

Self Promo

Because Two Men 

Are Better Than One

Thanks Nic Starr

RELEASING ~ One Last Kiss Goodbye

HIDDEN HEARTS 2

Releasing: January 1st 2016

Publisher: Fireborn Publishing

CONTENT ADVISORY: This is an extensively expanded and re-edited re-release title.

BUY LINK

BLURB

All his life, Jacen's had a crush on his brother's best friend. One night, they share a kiss, but Kayne isn't his to love. Now, Jacen's been beaten up, and he flees back to Queensland. Kayne's no longer with his wife and is raising his son. Will lifelong love win out?

Jacen Ives was living a lie. Being in a relationship with a person he couldn't fully love was only a small part of the problems in his life. The truth was, he was hiding away from the one man he always knew he was meant to love. Jacen left his home in Queensland to get away from Kayne Henderson and the family he was making for himself. Distance didn't help because his heart could never forget.

Mistakes made as a teenager set Kayne's future in place, so--with one last kiss goodbye--he lied, and let his heart walk away from him--his best friend's younger brother. They say time heals all wounds; what a crock. Sometimes, all time does is just confuse the matter. Especially when Kayne has a soon-to-be ex-wife and a young son to raise.

Years later, after letting Jacen walk away, he finds Jacen has finally come home. Everything is not good; Jacen has been both physically and mentally abused by his ex-boyfriend. Kayne needs to help find out just who is trying to destroy Jacen's life. Who's to blame--the man responsible for beating Jacen up or Kayne's very own ex, who has hated Jacen since they were all teenagers and she found out Jacen held Kayne's heart? Or is there someone new on the playing field? If so, which one of them are they truly after?

2015 ~ The Year In Reflection

2016 was going to be my year… but then life got in the way. I’m not saying it was a bad year, but it certainly could have been better.

The kids are doing fine at school, so that has all been great. Although, my son, Ethan has been offered a position in an Alternative Year 10 Class at his high school for next year. Which in a way I think will suit him better than regular year 10 classes… most of the classes will revolve around setting up and growing a vegie patch business… they sell the produce to the teachers. At the end of the year they get to spend the money on something. I’ve had meeting at the school about it… which i was told the mornings will be spent on Maths/English/Science and all will revolve around the vegie patch business. In the afternoons they will either be playing sport or working in the vegie patch, & each Friday they go out and learn some kind of trade… makes more sense to me, because at the end they will come out knowing something useful—instead of like regular year 10 where each subject you may be learning about different things and nothing links up.

I'm also proud of Ethan for getting a job, and paying back the loan for his motorbike...

Emily is still waiting to hear back from the uni to see if her change of bachelor has been accepted (from Business to Law). I’m hoping she finds out soon as then she can start organising books etc. Plus she will be moving out of home and into a share house with one of her uni friends... so it means I'll have my office back. I love writing in my recliner, and will do so on the days I'm watching the cricket, but honestly, I get more done when I work in the office, and lock myself away from the world.

I'm also proud of Emily for picking up the slack now the hubs is in NZ. For also picking up Ethan when he has to work late, as I can't see in the dark.

Dare I say it--I have two great kids--even if they do drive me insane most days.

My husband has moved to New Zealand for work. Eventually I will join him, but right now that just isn’t possible… this is what’s been stressing me out the most. Mainly because I have been dealing with the taxes, houses, co-owned properties, and I’m glad to say that after July 2016 I should be done with the taxes at least. I am tired of all the bullshit that goes with keeping them up to date. At least my husband has to deal with it after that.

Writing wise I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked to… again I put this all down to stress. Please let 2016 be a little less stressful—that’s all I’m asking.

Moments to be proud of:

Expirmentals 2: Running into Zero Tolerance

The Diamond Rose 1: Gateway to Kalethia

Storming Love~Flood: Adrian & Lockie

Hollow’s Trouble

The Lines of Marsden 3: You Make Me Die in Pieces

Hidden Hearts 1: Harder & Harder to Breathe

And for completing:

Hidden Hearts 2: One last Kiss Goodbye (extended & revised version)

The Freedomers 1: Zephania’s Chance

Wardens of the Guild 1: The Real You

And for mostly completing:

The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes

This year I have found difficult to write anything. I swear to God every time I sat down in front of the computer, some family drama would jump right in front of me. Hopefully next year I'll be able to concentrate more on the important things.

Over the past year, I have done a lot of reading… most of it I have enjoyed immensely, while others left me scratching my head and thinking WTF! Yet I still found myself going back and reading old favourites ~ MM… MF.

AKM Miles, Alexis Morgan, Andrew Grey, Bailey Bradford, Carol Lynne, Cassandra Clare, Charlie Richards, David Eddings, Dean Koontz, Diana Gabaldon, Gabriel Evans, J.K. Rowling, Joyee Flynn/Flynn Eirie, Kerrelyn Sparks, Lynn Hagen , Lynsay Sands, Mary Calmes, Sean Michaels, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Stephani Hecht, Stormy Glenn… Of course I’m sure there are many more people I think are fantastic authors.

Once again in 2015, I participated in being a judge for the Rainbow Awards—this is something I love doing, as I get the opportunity to read authors who have never crossed my radar before. Some of them I have already sought out more of their work. I will more than likely do it again in 2016.

I sadly had to pull out of being one of the co-organisers of the Hop Against Homophobia & Transgender blog hop. I seriously just don’t have the time to keep up with everything… though I have offered to keep open the HAHAT Facebook page open for everyone else… To be honest I’m not even sure I'll have time to participate in DRitC next year… It's always a great honour to be able to write a story from someone else’s prompt. Mind you, I’m not sure I’ve even come close to matching what they wanted… speaking of next year, my first ever DRitC: Shadows on the Heart is getting a major make over and extension done. I just need to add more detailed information if I ever have a hope in hell of writing #2: On the Flipside of Reverse.

As a family we are also striving to become healthier… not that my son needs to lose any weight (as over the last year he has dropped 12kg) now he just wants to tone up. If he wants to get fitter, I’m not going to stop him. Emily will be living across town so she can do what she wants (I’m not exactly sure how much she has lost). As for me I’m mainly changing my diet by cutting out any and all junk food. Not that I’m really a sweets eater, but I know I drink more coffee than what’s good for me. So more water and less sugars—more fresh foods and less packaged foods. I promise to give a monthly update for the whole of 2016 (this is probably more than you ever wanted to know about me, but I figure if everyone is keeping tabs on me then I will stick to my goals). Have no fear of calling me out on it if I start to let things slide.

I have many plans set in writing for the year ahead. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my 2016 writing schedule list. It will be great of everyone could drop me a line to keep me on track as the weeks roll by. More importantly stop me from getting an attack of the slack-itus.

**BREAKING NEWS**

THE FREEDOMERS

Zephania's Chance

Contracted 

One Last Kiss Goodbye

Completed & sent back 1st edits

To Jamie DR at Fireborn

Just Subbed

The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance

Fireborn Publishing

Seven Simple Things.

 I'm over at

Lisabet Sarai's

Beyond Romance

Releasing ~ Harder & Harder To Breathe

HIDDEN HEARTS 1

RELEASING: November 20^th

PUBLISHER: Fireborn Publishing

BUY LINK

BLURB

Sammy has loved Micah from the first moment they'd met, but Micah is straight. Years later when he's threatened and he seeks and receives Micah's help, Sammy begins to think maybe Micah isn't so straight after all.

Disaster brings people together in the most unexpected ways. Sammy Ranmore has just become the Steins brothers' next target in their ongoing scam. Being robbed then shot at, his life is falling apart. Who is after him and why? He needs a friend.

Micah Ives was over the unrequited love he'd felt for Sammy. Two years later his life is finally on track--or so he thinks. One phone call in the early hours of the morning has Micah running to save the day--and Sammy.

Sammy moved to Gatton to be closer to the one person he'd never get over. When his life gets thrown a curve ball of epic proportions, he calls Micah for help. With the help of family, Micah and Sammy must find out if they're strong enough to face evil--and see where newfound love can take them.

EXCERPT:

  "Honey, why are you calling me so late?" Micah cringed at both the endearment slipping free and the tenderness of his own voice as he heard his ex-flatmate speaking. Actually, he was kind of surprised he even recognised Sammy's voice when he'd answered the phone. Two years was a long time after the bittersweet end to their time sharing a flat. Now, to suddenly be woken up at--he looked across to the clock on his nightstand--shit! It was three a.m. A sniffle on the other end of the line had all sense of tiredness fleeing from his body, and Micah suddenly found himself wide awake. Once again the strong need to slay all of Sammy's dragons was flooding Micah's system. He wondered if he offered his help again, would he get the same reaction as last time. Still, he couldn't stop himself from asking. "Why are you crying? Is everything okay?"

  "I didn't know who else to call. Bradley left me. He took everything and left. I'm...I--" A broken sob filled the line as Sammy shattered on the other end of the phone. Micah needed Sammy to tell him what the hell was going on.

  "Sammy, where are you? I'm coming to get you. I need to know where I can find you." Tossing back the sheet, Micah stood, went to his closet, and grabbed the first things his hand fell on as he coaxed Sammy's location from him.

  Sammy rattled off his address and shock slammed into him when Micah realised his old friend had been living in the same township and he hadn't even known it. Why hadn't they ever run into each other? It wasn't like Gatton was some huge city. Surely if Sammy had been here for any length of time they would have crossed paths before now. There were so many questions he'd have to ask.

  "I'll be there in a couple of minutes, hon. Tomorrow you can decide what else you need to do." Again he cringed at the term of endearment and couldn't believe what a goober he was sounding like.

  Micah's hands shook as he grabbed his keys from the top of his dresser and left his house. By the time he'd gotten into his car and set out, he realised he hadn't even locked his front door. Pulling out his phone, he dialled a number he knew well. The music died in the stereo when his Bluetooth kicked in. He also knew Kayne would just be getting up to get ready for work. Being in demolition, sometimes jobs required travel and an early start on the road.

  "Hey, Micah, do you know what time it is?" Kayne yawned over the line.

  Micah chuckled. "Of course I do, and I know you're up since I just passed your house."

  "What the hell are you doing out at this time of the morning?" Kayne asked. "I thought you were coming in late today. If you're going to work, why didn't you pick me up?"

  "I'll be in later. I really need you to do me a favour. On your way to work, can you to stop and lock up my place? I had to leave in a bit of a hurry. Make sure I turned the lights off as well."

  "What's happened? Is it Jacen or your dad? Do you need me to come with you?"

  The worry in his friend's voice was comforting in a weird way. Micah had always known that no matter what else life threw at them, Kayne would have his back. They had been best friends since high school. Nowadays they didn't get to spend as much time together other than when they spoke at work. Ever since Teagan had given birth to Macen, she had curbed who her husband could hang out with. Micah had the feeling she was doing everything she could to separate Kayne from all of his friends. Mind you, whenever possible Kayne and Macen came to visit. Micah just wasn't sure Teags knew about their visits. If she did, they would fall by the wayside. He'd never really understood why she'd always had such an intense dislike for both Ives brothers. Though, probably he got off a little lighter than Jacen did. Teags absolutely hated Jacen.

  He responded. "The family's fine. I'm going to help a friend. Do you remember Sammy?"

  "The guy you shared a flat with in uni? Why's he getting in touch now? I thought he told you to fuck off and leave him the hell alone."

  Micah sighed deeply. "Yeah he did, but he needs my help and I'm going to go get him. Apparently he lives on the other side of town. I didn't even know he'd moved to Gatton."

  "Are you sure this is a good thing, Micah? I don't want to see you go through what you did a couple of years ago."

  The lie forming on his lips made him feel guilty, as Kayne was practically the only person outside of his family he was completely truthful with. Well...almost. "This time I won't try to be the guy's protector. I've learnt my lesson. He asked, so I'm just helping him out of his tough spot."

  "Hmmm, I'll believe it when I see it. You've always treated the guy the same way you do Jacen and look how that ended up. Your brother moved two states to get away from you." Even though Kayne sounded like he was joking, Micah knew his friend missed Jacen probably as much as much as Micah did.

  Micah blurted out before he could stop himself. "He didn't leave because of me. He left because of you. You hovered over him just as much as I did, buddy." Cursing inwardly, he was glad his friend wasn't in the car with him and couldn't see the truth on his face. Micah had always sucked at lying. Jacen had once told him his face was like an open book. Every emotion he'd ever felt was clearly written for all to see. He didn't truly believe Kayne had anything to do with Jace leaving, but he did suspect Teags had a hand in it.

  Laughter trickled over the line. "God, you're an idiot. You keep thinking what you want, but we all know Jace ran from you. Go be your knight in shining armour and I'll shut your place up like the good friend I am. I'll even drop by tonight for a beer to find out what happened with you and golden boy."

  As the call ended Micah pulled up in front of a set of units on Woodlands Road. He didn't even have to hazard a guess at which unit Sammy lived in because it was the only one with all the lights on and it had police both entering and leaving.

  Holy shit! What the hell is going on?

ABOUT ME

NJ needs to write like she needs to breathe. It’s an addiction she never intends to find a cure for. When you don’t find NJ arguing with Vlad, her muse, or writing about the wonderful men in her stories, you’ll find her reading work by other authors she greatly admires. NJ lives on five acres situated in the SE of Qld, Australia with her family who all encourage her writing career (even if she does occasionally call them by her character’s names), and her variety of pets. NJ thinks anyone who takes the time to read her stuff is totally awesome, and wants to thank you all.

FIND ME HERE

My Blog (where you hear about everything)  

WordPress (mainly book related) 

Goodreads * Face Book * Facebook Author Page * Twitter * Linked in * Google+

PUBLISHER PAGES

Fireborn Publishing ~ MLRPress ~ Pride Publishing

Just A Quickie

So far The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes... is on track but has taken a massive turn that even I didn't see coming. I'm hoping that it doesn't cause to much of a stir when I submit it... so I need you all to keep your fingers crossed.

I'm just getting ready to submit The Day Walkers Guild 1: The Real You... to Pride Publishing. So again I ask for fingers crossed.

My beta reader James A is working on The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance... and the first 4 chapters of TCC2: BG.

Pre Order Today At Fireborn

Pre-order link

Insomnia Rocks ~ Sometimes.

In times of NaNoWriMo I love my insomnia... it's day 5 for me and I'm hoping to reach 40K ~ currently I'm at 36K. With my insomnia the wee hours of the morning are my favourite time to write as I have a very quiet house all to myself. Instead of putting on a light, I just attach my kindle lamp to my Surface Pro 3 and sit in the dark and let my imagination have free reign.

Later I also want to try and write 4K on The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance, but the cricket starts today at 9am  at the Gabba in Brisbane, so I'm not promising anything.

Galley Proof

This morning, or in reality some time in the middle of the night I received Galley Proof on Hidden Hearts 1: Harder & Harder To Breathe... So in the wee hours of this morning I did them and sent them back to the amazing Kathy K at Fireborn publishing... I can't wait for you to all read this as a prequel to the once published and now heavily rewritten and extended HH 2: One Last Kiss Goodbye.

In NaNoWriMo I'm hoping to reach 30K today. I need to get NaNo done as quickly as possible so that I can concentrate on finishing writing the last 2 books for 2015:

The Freedomers 1: Zephania's Chance

The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes

End Of Year Writing Updates

I worked out this morning how many words I have to write a day to be able to get the last 4 books on my 2015 list written.

Need              Have

100,000+       30,000

  30,000+        00,000

  40,000+        13,601

  40,000=        21,002

210,000          64,603

Words            Per Day

210,000-        145,397/

  64,603=        Days 68=

145,397          2,138 pd

• Seasons of Mystery:Summer~Lay Your Body Down [0/30K] NaNoWriMo (paranormal)
• The Connelly Chronicles 2: Beautiful Goodbyes [30/100K] (contemporary)
• The Freedomer 1: Zephania’s Chance [13,601/40K] (paranormal)
• Day Walkers 1: The Real You [21/40k] NaNoWriMo (paranormal)

What's Happening...

I've just finished the 2nd round of edits for Fireborn Publishing on HIDDEN HEARTS 1: Harder & Harder To Breathe. I've done and sent them back to Jamie D. R. 

I was going to end this series with book 2: One Last Kiss Goodbye, which is really the first book I wrote in this series (This title was previously released through Silver Publishing, but has had a major rewrite and extension). Hopefully everyone one will enjoy this version as much as the last.

During these edits my wonderful editor has been giving me ideas to extend the series as she'd like to hear Travis's story. Let me know if you feel the same way... and I'll work them into my writing schedule.

I've heard back from Annette S from MLRPress about the galley on THE LINES OF MARSDEN 3: You Make Me Die In Pieces... I should expect galley next week after Kris J gets back from GRL. It will give me plenty of time to get it done before the release date. Speaking of MLRPress, I'll be working on a lot of my next books in 2016 in these series: 

Experimentals

Lancaster's Way

Sons Of Evenmore

The Lines Of Marsden

Toowoomba Boys