Greetings to all.
As I write this, my printer is spitting out the pages for the final draft of TRIUMPH IN ARMS, Book 6 of my Masters at Arms series. It will go to my editor tomorrow, if not sooner. The deadline was June 1, so it's a bit late. As this book won't see publication until early 2010, that's fine, however; a day or two won't make much difference. And yes, this is my excuse for why the newsletter is late this month
For those new to the newsletter list (welcome!), I will have another a book out before TRIUMPH sees the light of day. This will be GALLANT MATCH set for release in February 2009, with the Kentucky sword master Kerr Wallace as its hero. I recently read and okayed the copy edits for this book. In the letter from my editor which accompanied the copy-edited manuscript, she said: "the scenes following the shipwreck (yes, there is one in the book.) are amazing, and I adored the dueling scene at the end." It's always inspiring when your editor likes what you've done.
So what's next? I'm not sure, since TRIUMPH IN ARMS is the final book of the Masters at Arms series and the last book in my current contract. I'll be taking time off this summer to make up my mind. It's not a case of having nothing to write, but rather of too many ideas. I need a clone! Meantime, I'll be leaving later in the month for a Mediterranean cruise with ports of call for Rome, Naples, Florence, Athens, Rhodes, Istanbul and a couple of others. It's a "girl" trip, with my two daughters as traveling companions. I'm sure we'll have a grand time, since we always do. Who knows, we might even plot a book or two in collaboration on this trip. I'm taking my laptop, just in case.
I'll also be taking my Sony eReader that I told you about last month. At this moment, I have more than 40 books loaded on it, everything from travel classics by Robert Lewis Stevenson and Virginia Wolfe to contemporary romances. My luggage will be much lighter without the 4 5 books I usually take on vacation.
Foreign sales this month include DAWN ENCOUNTER, book 2 of the swordsmen series, to Japan. I often wonder what people in other countries think of my stories. Sometimes, I get a hint. Not long ago, a reader in Austria sent bookmarks with a request to have them signed to go in her German language book collection. When I received them, they were enclosed in several different envelopes. To get them to me, she had sent them (in care of my pen name) from Austria to my German publisher in Munich. The person assigned to forwarding author mail there apparently made a trip to Malta, for the next envelope was postmarked from there. This went to my agent in New Y ork. Then someone in his office enclosed it in the final envelope with my home address. So much trouble for my signature. Amazing.
The summer is moving along here on the lake. My daylilies are a sea of color in three large beds between the house and the water. Often on weekends we notice boats easing past the house to look at them. But it's getting hot here, with temps in the 90s this weekit will soon be time to retreat from Louisiana's heat by staying under the A/C or else heading to our summer place in the Colorado. Who knows, that may be where you'll hear from me next.
The printer has finished its job now, and it's time for lunch. Afterward, I'll write the letter to my editor that will go with the manuscript. Then I think I'll go stretch out somewhere and read something written by somebody else! Hope your afternoon and evening are just as relaxed and your first month of summer as glorious.
Warmest wishes,
Jennifer
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