Welcome to my blog

Well, I've done it. I've gone bloggy. How could I resist? The world no longer uses the privacy of old-fashioned paper journals or diaries, or sends letters to their friends. Now we blog, and let everyone have a peek inside our brains for free. I can't imagine why that's a good thing, but nonetheless, here I am.

In an attempt to establish myself on the internet, and to be able to say I am both a) hip and b) current (although the use of these very words reveals the archaic nature of my being), I too shall blog. When I am on my deathbed, clutching the sheets around me with my gnarled, boney fingers, I shall look up, and with my last death rattle wheeze, "At least I had a blog!"

Or maybe I'll tell my children I always loved them. One of those things. Anyway, a little about myself. I am a naturally private person, so this freaks me out. I will attempt to both reveal and conceal myself, so pardon if I get dodgy on certain facts. Age: old enough to know better; older than my gums, but younger than my teeth. Take your pick. Sex: yes. State: One of the bigger ones, sort of square, with a pointy end. In the USA. Weight: On the moon, not much. Race: I don't race unless someone is chasing me, and then only if he has a gun.

Well, that's all you really need to know about me, I guess. Also, I write romance. Currently, paranormal romantic suspense, but not the real "whoo whoo" stuff. I have written historical, but as I was told the stuff I was interested in was virtually unmarketable at the time (okay, totally unmarketable), I decided to stop hitting myself over the head with a hammer and moved to contemporary. My first two novels were set in the Early Reformation period (16th century) in non-traditional locations (The Legacy was set in Wittenberg, Germany, at the time of the printing and protestant revolutions--uh-huh, uh-huh--and involved the arranged marriage of a printer and an ex-nun who escaped from a convent. Yeah, give me more of that. The second one, which is eighty pages shy of being completed because I got wise and realized THIS WAS NEVER GOING TO SELL, involved a German mercenary--the printer's brother--who falls for a Spanish blade merchant's daughter in Italy. Oh, boy. Actually, they were both very good, if I do say so myself. Just unsellable in the romance market).

[**UPDATE** 1/31/09: Of course, any of you who have been keeping track know that both THE LEGACY and THE PROMISE, to which this post refers, did eventually sell. Yay, me!]

My current manuscript is called Dreamweaver, is based on a horrible killing nightmare I had one night, and finalled in two national contests (the RWA Golden Heart and the Daphne du Maurier) and several smaller contests, including the Laurie and the Lone Star. If you're a member of RWA, you probably know these. If not, why do you care?

I love writing romance, but have yet to convince either an editor or agent that I can do it on a full time basis, though no one has discouraged me yet ("just stop already, please??") In fact, they've been very encouraging, and for that I'm grateful. I'm waiting for the right story to hit the right editor at the right time, and I'm also planning to win the lottery and retire young on my earnings. Well, it could happen!

Enough about me. Let's talk about you? How do you like my blog so far? Sorry. Old joke. Later.

Take care, TJB