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National Novel Writing Month 2016

Yep, it's that time again!!!

Halloween, you may ask? Well, yes that, too. But while all the neighborhood kiddos are running around in the dark, all decked out in costume on my front lawn, and wondering why the heck no one is answering the door, I'm getting ready for a month of awesome writing!

Of course I have candy. But it's all mine! I'm going to need every last piece to survive. And since all my kids are grown, too old to Trick or Treat, I'm giving myself permission to ignore the chaos this year. Trust me. They'll live. LOL

So who's doing NaNoWriMo?

Come on. I highly recommend it! It's fun! And any progress is well worth the time, effort and stress of trying to get that word count in. I've participated since 2007, have several published books under my belt, as well as others that will someday get the attention they deserve. (Note to self. Add this promise/goal to calendar.) In some form or fashion, NaNoWriMo helped me get on track, stay on track, and move forward. The accountability is priceless!

Join me and let's watch those word count trackers move!

My username: mdohno

Good Luck!!

It just so happens, Sinful Secrets is a NaNoWrimo creation. :) It's due to release from Entangled Publishing on November 14, but you can pre-order it today!

Pre-order Here!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Sinful Secrets

by Melissa Ohnoutka

Giveaway ends November 14, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Enter NOW for a chance to win a FREE Print Copy!

Sinful Secrets Due out November 14!

So excited! Sinful Secrets is up on Goodreads and available for request on Netgalley!! Please feel free to share, add to your lists and request a copy to read from Netgalley!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32316574-sinful-secrets

As promised, here's the cover!

Blurb:

Event planner Joanna McNamee is scrambling to ensure her father’s company Christmas party goes smoothly, but one disaster after another has her convinced someone is trying to sabotage her career. With the help of a man from her past who she’s still not sure she can trust, she puts the pieces together and realizes her business is the least of her problems—a cold-blooded killer is out to destroy her father and take her as his prized possession.

     

The last thing Deputy Ryker Kane expects is for a simple truck hijacking to throw him back into the middle of the Black Widow case he’d been forced to abandon, not to mention right into the arms of the sweet woman he’d let walk away ten years earlier. When he finds Jo Jo kidnapped and drugged, he has to use all his wits and skills honed from years as a detective to save them both. Despite the secrets between them, Ryker’s bound and determined to give them a second chance at love.

Sinful Secrets Coming Soon!

 Mark those calendars for November!!

I'm over the moon excited to report I have a release date for my next book! Happy dancing all over the place. So cool!

Sinful Secrets is on track to release with Entangled Publishing on November 14, 2016!! That's two days after my birthday! Yay! What a great gift! :)

As soon as I get the cover, I'll share I promise!

Even though I've self-published four full length novels on my own and two short prequels, this has been one thrilling ride. Not having the control I'm used to was tough at times, but all in all, it has been a great experience. And I've learned so much in the process thanks to my wonderful editor, Robin. :) The story is still heavy on the suspense, but has more romantic elements than I'm used to writing. Honestly, I'm so proud of the way it turned out.

You can't beat this wonderful feeling!

Now on to the next one!! LOL

Progress is Golden!

As summer winds down, the brutal heat trying to wear me down and zap what energy I have left, I find myself scrambling to catch up and get all the things done before the kids head back to school. Surprisingly, the last two months have been quite productive and I'm happy with the tasks I've managed to accomplish despite this crazy weather and my hectic schedule.

The RWA Conference in San Diego was a blast! What a beautiful city! And the people there were all so nice. I didn't get to do much sight seeing though. And due to a mishap with my darn phone, which we will not discuss on the internet, I lost most of the pictures I'd taken. Of course I left my real camera at home. You know, because my cell phone has transformed into my everything all in one gadget and is way too attached to my hip. Talk about a great lesson! LOL I now know I can live without immediate communication with family and friends for at least four days! Ha!

Thank goodness for my great friends and the best roomies ever (for a ton of numerous reasons) for sharing and helping me salvage some of my own pictures. I'd texted them copies!!! LOL :)

Walking Our Path to the Main Hotel

RWA Awards Ceremony 

Having Way Too Much Fun!

Book Signing Madness
with some Pretty Awesome Authors!

I so needed a week to recover, but my edits for the next book came the Monday after I got home. Back to work you slacker!! No breaks for you! LOL

Finished up this last round yesterday. Shouldn't be long now. Hope to have a cover to share real soon!!

San Diego Here I Come!

Looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new ones. Oh, yes. And learning some new tricks to improve my writing and marketing strategy from all the wonderful workshops. :)

This will be my first time in San Diego, so I'm hoping to get some sight seeing in as well. So much to do, so little time. LOL

Hope to see you there!

It Is Done!

Happy to report I typed those two little, but oh so rewarding words today!

Let the real celebration begin!! :)

And then the edits! LOL

The Downhill Slope - It's a Great Thing!

Crossing the 70,000 word line on the work in progress really makes me want to celebrate! :)

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Still have quite a ways to go to finish and tie up all the lose ends, but at least I can breathe again. My goal of finishing by the end of this month is looking more promising by the minute. The muse, as well as my characters, is playing nice, which is a rarity.

A scene that took me be surprise this week and had me questioning my heroine's state of mind has really become a turning point in the story. Thought I'd share a snippet. Now it's first draft quality so be warned. LOL

***

Ella fought to keep breathing. Her head hurt. Her chest ached. And her brain felt like mushy oatmeal. What Darien did to her parents would haunt her for life. What he’d almost done to her might be the last straw to do her in for good.

She stared passed the man who’d stolen her childhood, stripped her of her dignity and made her feel dirty and immoral. Like she’d been to blame for her uncle’s lustful ambitions. She stared on into the kind blue eyes of a stranger. The man who’d rescued her not once, but three times. She stared on trying to figure out what to do next. Did she dare trust him? Was she capable of letting a man be her whole world? Did she dare give him that much power over her?

Hand trembling, her finger so damn close to the trigger if she drew in a deep breath the gun would go off, she fought for clarity. Fought for the answer that would set her free. Heaven help her she wanted this to be over. All of it. And she now held all the cards. She looked down at the gun and then back at the man in front of her. If she pulled the trigger, the last of her problems would disappear. Without an army of minions, her uncle couldn’t come after her. He wouldn’t be able to track her. To find her. To hurt her ever again.

“Ella?” Seth’s face crinkled in that cute way she found so appealing and her heart flip flopped before lodging between her ribs.

She choked back a whimper. Who was she kidding? She loved this man. Every single inch of him. Heart and soul she was lost to him and him alone.

So weak and disoriented from her near drowning experience, her tortured body needed relief. She too collapsed to her knees, dropping the gun to the ground.

Seth was there in an instant, kneeling down in front of her. His strong arms embraced her smaller frame, holding her upright and for the first time in so many long, lonely, unrelenting years she felt at home. He was her family now. He was the one who could heal her brokenness.

“You had me scared shitless there for a minute.” He stroked the hair away from her face, lifting her chin with his forefinger.

“I’m so sorry.”

“After what you’ve been through, little lady, I don’t blame you one damn bit.” He plopped down beside her and pulled her into his lap, his kisses feathering the hair on top of her head. “You saved my life.”

“How about that.” She tried to laugh and coughed instead, reminding her how close she’d come to death herself.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he said, his voice tight, raw. Increasing his grip around her waist to keep her from turning around to look at him, he pulled her closer, his breathing unsteady. She snuggled in closer, the racing beat of his heart tattooing all kinds of promises deep into her soul.

And then she dared speak the words that would change her life forever.

“I love you, Seth.”

Love these surprises along the way. Although this one had me more than a little worried. I mean, how can you have a "happy ever after" in a romance if the heroine ends up shooting the hero. ACK!! Maybe it had something to do with it being Friday the 13th?

Oh, well!!  It's all good now! :)
Onward to the finish line!

Tricks of the Trade - Writing Locations

Never fails.

I swear the minute I reach the middle of a new book my muse becomes uncooperative and takes a vacation. I've been plugging away on this new book with little trouble for weeks and loving the way the story is playing out.

Then wham! Muse decides to play hard ball.  Almost 50,000 words in. Okay. Let's put on the breaks, shall we?! Make her work for it!

Geesh...what'd I do to piss you off this time? LOL Was it me thinking I actually might finish by June?

Well, I've learned a few tricks of my own on this oh so twisted journey. One of which is switching the locations I write in to stir things up. Sometimes more than three times in one day when times get really tough. So far, the muse appears clueless to my antics, so I'll keep using this trick till it doesn't work anymore.

This afternoon, I stepped outside into my new office. A beautiful sunny day greeted me with a cool breeze, the sound of leaves rustling peacefully overhead as the steady trickle of the pond echoed in the background. I'll be honest, all I really wanted to do was lay back in the hammock and nap the afternoon away. But wouldn't you know, the crazy muse had other ideas. Sneaky thing that muse.

Crossed the 50,000 mark and still going strong. Shhhh.... Let's keep this our little secret. :) No reason to test fate.

I also received a cool new coffee mug full of goodies from my publisher this week!

"Professional Author at Work". Love it!

My new favorite cup! :)

Yes, it was a really great day!
Here's hoping there's many more to follow.

Would love to hear how you get those creative juices flowing again. You know, in case I need a new strategy after this post. LOL

A Shot of Creativity

The weather has been really wacky here lately. Beautiful spring like weekend only to wake up this morning to a chilly 48 degrees. Of course we will be warming up to around 67 degrees later this afternoon. Texas weather! You've got to love it! :)

All these sunny days have me wanting to be outside working in the yard, when I should be cranking out words on the new manuscript as I patiently (not) await my edits on the last one.  But creativity is funny this way. At least for me. It seems like the more I get out and enjoy God's beautiful creations and discover other's masterpieces, the more ready I am to work on creating works of my own.

My youngest has started the college search. Gulp. So we've been taking fun trips to visit the different campuses. Lots of inspiration to found there. A few photos from our latest visit to the University of Texas.

Canoes all tied together.

So much history and knowledge on all of these campuses I can barely wrap my brain around it all. But it's the idea my youngest has made it to this milestone that blows my mind. Decisions, decisions...which will he choose? Hopefully one close to home so his mom won't completely lose her mind. LOL

No matter how hard we try to drag it out, ignore the reality and pretend time doesn't affect us, life moves on, doesn't it. Better not blink or we'll miss the blessings and opportunities laid out before us.

Nothing rings truer than this as I get older.  And there is nothing like a good ol' shot of creativity to help me see the meaning behind all this madness.

Life is, and will continue to be, what we make it. ;)

So Happy Spring, Ya'll!!

Get out there, create, live, love and laugh till your belly hurts! :)

New Beginnings

The sweet month of February is finally here! Yippee!

Can you tell I favor this month? LOL 

Yes, it has to do with chocolate, strawberries dipped in it, and boxes filled with the delicious morsels. But it’s also my oldest daughter’s 21 birthday. She’s my Valentine Baby, and I must say the sweetest gift I’ve ever gotten on Valentine’s Day!

This February is turning out to be a month of new starts for me, too! I’ve just signed a contract with Entangled Publishing for my newest manuscript! Yeah! And I get to work with an amazing editor, who I know will get my creative juices flowing!

So excited to see where this new path takes me. It’s a lot different from the self-publishing. And I’m still learning the ropes. But I hope this course will free me up to write more as someone else deals with the formatting, covers, blurbs and other tedious parts of the publishing process.

Not that I don’t plan to self-publish when I get the chance or have a story that won't fit their line. I love the control too much to just let it go. LOL Control issues! Big time!

So my new journey begins. And I'll keep you posted on the details as they pop up. As of now, I've already turned in my first round of revisions on the manuscript, so now I can sit back, eat chocolate, drink tequila, and wait. Right?

No! Ha! Ha!  I’m only kidding! 

Time to turn to the next project.

Going to get back into routine, meet up with special writing friends each week and crank out those new words. Accountability is a must for me. Otherwise the procrastination wins out.

So happy Birthday to my sweet first baby girl!

And Happy Writing/Creating to All! :)

Life's Journey Awaits

So the New Year has come and gone, and January 2016 is already winding down. I’m shocked. How am I supposed to enjoy these moments with my kids while they’re home if time keeps zipping along at warp speed?

I think someone is trying to tell me something. Something very important.

Cherish the moment. Every single one of them. The good. The bad. The quick. The slow. Quit saying “if I can just make it till….” Because doing so only speeds up the very thing I’m trying to slow down. Time.

My new Work shirt! LOL

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I look at them as new year challenges instead. My first one is going to be a commitment to live in the moment. All of them. Regardless of what’s going on at the time. Regardless of what I might be dreading to do, or have happen or how hard it might be.

You see, both my sweet girls have already left for college a few years ago. I still can’t wrap my brain around it. And my son is a junior in high school this year. I’ve got one more year before the dreaded empty nesting starts. LOL

Yes, I’m dreading it with a passion. But I’m not going to let it steal my joy or all the precious moments and chances to make memories before it gets here. Nope, not gonna do it.

Bring on the tennis tournaments, the trips to and from the two different colleges my daughters attend for visits, the birthdays, the graduations, marriages… gulp. I’ll stop there. No need to get too far ahead of myself, right?

In the meantime, I’m happy to report I’ve been writing up a storm. Editing along the way, too. I didn’t make the goal I’d set for myself last year as far as writing went. Sometimes those goals are just not meant to be. Wishful thinking on my part. But I did finish a new book. Yeah! And I hope to have some very exciting news to share really soon.

2016 is going to be a Terrific Adventure and one wild crazy ride for sure!

Even if it drives me to drink! Ha! Good thing I found out tequila can help you lose weight. No really! I read an article! LOL

A win, win situation as far as I'm concerned!

Bring on the Margaritas!! Let's celebrate!!