Guest Post: The Anthology Queen

Please welcome the wonderful Leona Bushman! She is a frequent guest on my blog and I love having her because she always has marvelous news to share! This week she is sharing with us about her two recent releases and her official (at least I am deeming it official ;-)) title: The Anthology Queen.
Take it away Leona! :-)

Guess what's happening this week? 

Wait? 

It's happened by now! 

I had TWO RELEASES ON THE SAME DAY. What's even more incredible, and possibly really strange? THEY'RE BOTH ANTHOLOGIES!

*turns off the capslock* Whew! Okay. Breathe. 

I'm calmer now, but just wow. This will be my second and third respectively, for Breathless Press. How'd that happen, you might ask. How's that work, you might think to yourself. Oh, she must like writing short stories, you might believe.

Here's how it happened:

Last year, well, little over a year ago, I had a contract for The Ulfric's Mate (Paranormal romance released July 27^th, 2012) and my editor sends me this email. Basically, hey we're looking for shifter shorts and I was like, Hey, yeah, no problem. Wrote a 10k short with characters that I knew I'd be introducing in the future, and voila, the editor says, I like, can I have? I says yes, and then go back to the business of editing The Ulfric's Mate.

Course, I had to also edit the story, Barely There, which DID go into the Ravaged Antho, released August, 2012 AT THE SAME TIME. Oops, sorry the caps lock thingy slipped…

That was wild, having my very first release through a publisher, and my second, happen within a month. Which probably solidified the differences even harder. There are plenty of similarities… But let's go on. 

The next two releases, Thanksgiving Friday, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? *slaps hand, that pesky caps lock* and December 14^th—right in a row, again! *Ha! More than one way to emphasize, hehe*

Well, what the heck. Those two were, Rick Sexed Up the Doc, a contemporary erotica for the Naughty Nursery Line, and The Captain's Christmas, a science fiction adventure, part of the holiday line for 2012. So crazy, right?

In the midst of all these releases, I also, for reasons you can find here was still scribbling away and was accepted into, yep, you guessed it, two more anthologies. I spent the fall editing, and the winter, editing, but I was hiding. *slides away from that*

But it's been something else, this mad scramble for becoming an anthology queen. See, it's not just me, in the case of these three anthologies, there were at least nine authors. 9. As in, loads more people than me. 

So what did that mean? That meant that I'd be busy procrastinating, and pretending that yeah, 100 words for the day is acceptable (It's so not for me. That's literally, just over a minute's worth of work for me. I can type mumbo jumbo with weird words and less than one error at 69wpm. My own stuff? I don't think they have a program that can count it.) and wham! Someone says, hey, I need this, or I need that, or what if we do this, and let's arrange that. Next thing I know, I'm talking about moving across continents and oceans to live with some of my fellow authors.

*true story ;) If I had the means, I'd now live in Scotland*

And now, with two coming out at the same time, I've got like 15 people!! Awesome people. All working toward the same goal—releasing a darn good book, with a hot cover, and wowing the reader's socks off! It's amazing, challenging, especially with family obligations, but what a fun rush and a great bond to build with the authors. I admit, I was shy and nervous with the first one, but now??

Now, I try to remember who I promised what, guide my Double Release Weekend event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/539386762748951/

Hosted by myself via my author FB page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLeonaBushman

You know the weirdest apart about all this? All of these stories are S.H.O.R.T. Yes, even Ulfric's Mate. I have a fantasy at 90, a zombie one at 90, and I LIKE LONG BOOKS. LOL I bring that up, because that's one thing I find hard, especially in romance, is the shortness of the anthologies. That's the hardest part of it. *gives a moment of respectful silence*

But you know what? Having something in common with other writers more than makes up for the PITA keeping it under ten is!



About the Author:

Leona Bushman lives in Eastern Washington with her husband and children, writing, painting, gardening, running, camping, or just reading or crafting. She also loves to swim but rarely gets a chance to as she's busy chasing after the three of five children still left at home. Sassy and saucy, she can be found writing about her trials and errors as a mom and writer at the following places:

Blog: http://lbushman.blogspot.com
The website: http://www.leonajbushman.com
And don't forget Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLeonaBushman

Leona Bushman on Writing, Mothering and...Green Eggs? I mean A GIVEAWAY!

Please welcome the lovely Leona Bushman. Today she is sharing with us about her personal life where she must wear many hats to get through the day as a mother of many, and a writer who has hit a rough patch, which happens to the best of us! 
She is also doing a GIVEAWAY!! See bottom of this post for details!

I've been working on a sequel forever. Okay, not forever, but for a year. That's a long time for me. By now, it should be 150k words long going by my rate of writing. But, I got stuck. Things changed. I have five kids, three at home, the youngest with Down Syndrome, all of them with Asthma, and we've been through the wringer. This has led me to believe that I could write anywhere, anytime. Well, that's mostly true.

I've written on a plane, on a train, in the air, in a car, I do not like green eggs…oh, wait, that's another story. I've written at Costco, Taco Bell, McDonalds, gas stations, parks, rooms, on laptops, tablets, computers, etc. But, since getting The Ulfric's Mate under contract, I've developed a system, which I've still followed at various places, still a system.

Then, I lost my editor. *cue dark dangerous music here*

She had to quit for personal reasons. I understand. I do. But I lost my way. Funny in the odd, definitely not a laughing matter sort of way, that I'd managed to write literally hundreds of thousands of words before I had an editor, then after having an editor for like nine months, I'm lost without her?

I don't know when it happened, but she'd become my talisman. When those around me didn't believe, I told myself, "She does!" Or when life threatened to take over my writing time, I told myself, "I can't let her down."

So I floundered. I wrote shorts for anthologies or special calls, like Naughty Nursery Rhymes and the Holiday series. It worked out well. I released Rick Sexed Up the Doc in November, and The Captain's Christmas in December. I have a story in Crimson due out in March, and in Serviced shortly after that.

But I haven't finished my sequel.

I have written nearly 50k on the next two in the series, with ideas for the third, but nothing's finished. Well, this month, I got my head out of my asterick and got serious. I've made some edits, added a scene with notes for another scene and how I need to pump up the action in a fight scene. *spoilers :D*

What did I learn? That I'm a superstitious and stuck in my writing ruts as the next writer. My rut is just a little crazier. LOL So, in the spirit of getting this sequel done, I'm going to give you a taste test and feel free to tell me what you think.

In the meantime, you can get The Ulfric's Mate here:


Breathless Press where you can get any format you wish to.

The sequel, tentatively titled The Midwife's Moon, is part of The War of the Weres series (The anthology Ravaged has a prequel that introduces the werebears and a couple of characters.)

Lisa, our main character is purposefully made into a werewolf and abandoned to deal with it alone. This is from the scene of her first change.

Deeper into the green woods she tracked, her wolf telling her she didn't need to worry, she would find her way home the same way she came. The silvery moon peeked through the tree branches as if to watch over her new child of the night. Lisa found a newfound comfort in the darkness, a sense of safety she wouldn't have felt in her human form.

She forgot, for the moment, that even wolves have their predators.

How many miles she trekked looking for her lover, she never knew. On she went. The crisp air, the scuttle of rodents, the wing song of the night owls surrounding her, comforting her wolf, letting her know she was safe. But fatigue caught up with her. She needed to eat. Joseph's scent winded around after the initial straight path from the clearing and she didn't have enough experience to tell the freshest trail from the oldest one.

Hunger gnawed at her ribs. Her mind's focus changed and the smell of fresh meat tainted the air. Lifting her noise, she sniffed twice. It was close. Saliva dripped from her jaw and she broke into an uneven run in the direction of the meat. There!

She pounced on the meat, put one paw on it, and jerked a huge hunk of bloody red flesh into her mouth. So satisfying. Her human mind rebelled at the goodness, but the wolf won the day. She put more pressure on the meat to hold it in place for tearing. Something clicked, then snapped as ragged pain tore through her forepaw still on the meat.

Hard metal encased her paw in jagged teeth meant to entrap. Inside she cried tears of pain until she could stand the silence no more and howled. The sound vibrated in the hills, the morose cry as lonely as her heart.

She pulled against the metal, trying to use her other foreleg to push the teeth far enough apart to get her injured leg out. But she tried to use her wolf paws the same way as she would use her human hands. Panic started to swell, the beast in a trap. Hunters and other animals of the night, which she recalled with sudden clarity, might get her at any time.

Hadn't someone mentioned cougar sightings lately? In her panic, she couldn't remember where. Panting, her tongue lolled out the side. As the frantic need to be free welled up into panic, she began to gnaw on her leg. She had to get out of the trap. But fatigue combined with blood loss caused her to pass out before she'd freed herself. As she lost consciousness, she thought a shadow moving toward her as her eyes swayed shut against her will.

Now for the GIVEAWAY! If we reach ten commenters--Leona will GIVE AWAY a copy of The Ulfric's Mate! Yay! So, get to commenting and please share with your friends! 

Leona Bushman is Making this Monday Better with a GIVEAWAY!

It's Monday! And to kick off the week, I have the lovely Leona Bushman visiting. She is sharing with us a little bit about her recent release The Captain's Christmas. Not just that, but she is also giving away a copy to one lucky commenter! (No, commenter is not a word, but I have made it a word now, so accept it! ;)) 

The Captain's Christmas
Sci-fi Christmas M/F Romance

Buy Links:
Breathless Press
Amazon

Blurb:

While on a rescue mission, Faraway must save her ship from pirates before they destroy her Christmas.

Captain Faraway Hastings sets off on what she thinks is a regular rescue mission, even if it did have the bad timing to be on Christmas. Disparate reports from the medical officer and captain of the downed ship cause her to look more closely at the situation.

Ethan Roarke, lieutenant commander and chief medical officer, is frustrated with the time it's taking for help to come. When he learns that his captain has neglected to inform their rescuers of the dire straits his people are in, he's angry and concerned. But worse, his loyalties are now torn between his captain who lied and the one trying to save them.

When Fara and Ethan meet, the attraction is immediate and strong despite the circumstances. But can Fara and Ethan discover the pirates hidden amongst them before they kill everyone on the ship? Or are they doomed to miss out on their chance of a Merry Christmas?

Excerpt:

"I assure you, my people can count. And the tally with the last group waiting below is," she pushed some buttons on her wrist unit. "Seven hundred twenty eight men, women, and children. Would you like the breakdown?"

"I'm telling you. I have a complete list of our manifest here, and there are less than six hundred people, sir."

They stared at each other. "Well," she said after a beat of silence. "It seems we have ourselves some stowaways. Possibly—likely—dangerous ones."

"The other ship. I didn't think about it, but there were two main directions that the largest groups came from. That means," he stopped and looked to see if she'd had the same thought.

"That means, Lieutenant Commander Medical Officer Ethan Roarke, that as I'd suspected before landing my first shuttle there, the enemy is amongst us."

"Why would they do that? Why would my captain not tell me or you?"

"You know him better than I, but my take is he's trying to protect us. That, in his opinion, telling us would put us in more danger than not knowing. I happen to disagree. Knowledge is power in my experience."

"And mine," he replied. "It's not like him to withhold this type of information from me. He'd normally want me to be apprised so I can adequately prepare my medical team for the right kind of injuries. Have you asked the first officer?"

"No. I will do so once everyone's on board."

"He's in sickbay from injuries during the walk."

"Thank you for the information. In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears open. It goes without saying that I don't like having an enemy on my ship."

"Any more than I like that my captain may be responsible for allowing it to happen." Somehow, during the last part of their conversation, their voices had become quieter, as if they were afraid of being overheard. He'd placed himself so they were practically touching by the last word. When she said ship, a puff of air had landed on his lips. Their closeness made the tone of his response sound intimate as he dropped his volume in reaction to her closeness.

"I don't like hotheaded medics," she whispered.

"And I don't like pushy, bossy captains," he replied just as softly.

"Then you're going to hate me," she said and kissed him.

About Leona:

Leona Bushman lives in Eastern Washington with her husband and children writing, painting, gardening, running, camping, or just reading or crafting. She also loves to swim but rarely gets a chance to as she's busy chasing after the three of five children still left at home. Sassy and saucy, she can be found writing about her trials and errors as a mom and writer at the following places:

Blog: http://lbushman.blogspot.com

The website: http://www.leonajbushman.com

And don't forget Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLeonaBushman

Books currently out with Breathless Press:

The Ulfric's Mate-Book 1 in The War of the Weres series

Ravaged Anthology-introduces the werebears and couple new characters to The War of the Weres series

 Rick Sexed Up the Doc (Naughty Nursery Rhyme)

If you want more of her, she's found on twitter as often as not at @L_Bushman just follow and don't be a spammer. She follows back if you look like a real person. Besides werewolves, she also likes zombies, vampires, dragons, and fairies. You're likely to catch her attention if you talk to her about any of the above. Or sports. She loves sports but rarely gets a chance to indulge that love. So speak up! Disclaimer: Watch out, she bites :D