ashleighraine.com » Blog Archive » It’s been awhile…

It’s been awhile…

February 1st, 2010

As I wrote the title to this post, the song from Staind played through my mind. I love the song–it’s one of my favorites by Staind–but thankfully the only connection between that song and this post is the title. Life is crazy busy, but not bad.

I wish I could say that Lisa and I have been busy writing the last few months, but that would be lying. We’ve been busy working other jobs–putting in lots of extra hours because in this economy, we can’t say no to making much-needed money to pay the bills. Lisa now works at a costume shop where she’s been building costumes for a big-time movie that will be hitting theaters in summer 2011. I’m not sure if she’s allowed to talk about it so I won’t share any details here, but it’s been pretty exciting and we like to think of it as more research for upcoming Hollywood Heat stories we want to write. If you combine Lisa’s and my work hours over the last couple months, on average we’ve been putting in anywhere from 120-160 hours a week. I wish I could say I was exaggerating on that! We get up, go to work, and fall into bed after 12-18 hour shifts, often 7 days a week. But I refuse to see anything but the positive in that. Money is good. Getting out of debt is good. Life is hectic, but good.

We have a release this week–the new and improved, revised version of Forsaken Talisman is coming out in paperback. The official release date is tomorrow, so I’ll chatter more about it then, although you can find it shipping now on several online bookstores if you just can’t wait another day. The book looks absolutely stunning. I’m really impressed with the quality and the cover is beautiful on the print edition. Yes, I will fully admit I’ve hugged my copies more than once.

If you want an autographed bookplate for any of our print books, drop me an email. You can find the link to my email address on the About the Author page on our website. In the email let me know which print books you have and who you want the book autographed to and we’ll personalize it and mail it off. A lot of emails end up in spam, though, so if you don’t hear back from me, try again. We got hundreds upon hundreds of spam email a week, and I don’t want anyone to think they’re being ignored.

And since we’re talking about Talisman Bay…our workload is lightening up a little bit so this week we’re easing back into writing. Our editor, the amazing Anne Scott, has read the first 25,000 words of Eternal Talisman and she loves what she’s read so far. Getting that type of feedback is invaluable and lights the fire under us to get this book done. It’s been too long since we’ve had a new book out, and we know that readers have been waiting for-friggin’-ever for Eternal Talisman to release. It’s a guilt Lisa and I live with daily that we haven’t been able to write fast enough to get the stories to you that all of you have been demanding. Thank you to all the readers and fans who email us all the time letting us know that you’re excited about Eternal Talisman and our other future releases. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you for telling your friends and fellow readers about our books. Thank you for spending your money on our stories. We can’t do this without you. And we want to keep doing this for years to come.

If all goes well, Lisa and I will be back to a semi-regular blogging schedule within the next few weeks. If Lisa’s allowed, maybe she’ll talk about some of her experiences working in the costume shop, and the work she’s done as a background extra on several shows (including House, Big Love and others) over the last few months. I’ve been harassing her to type up her stories and post them because I love hearing about her experiences, so if you want to hear them, join in my harassing in the comments below. And next time she’s not working a 12-18 hour day maybe she’ll start posting them.

We’ll talk soon…and please, don’t be a stranger. Leave a comment or drop us an email. We love hearing from you! (And don’t forget to leave your comments harassing Lisa to tell her recent stories of her behind-the-scenes Hollywood life!)