Kate Douglas
Connect with Kate
  • Kate Douglas
  • About Kate
    • Those life-changing moments
  • Bookshelf
    • Romantic Suspense >
      • Tangled
      • INTIMATE
      • REDEMPTION
      • AWAKENED
      • Lethal Deception
      • Lethal Obsession
      • Carved in Stone
    • Erotic Paranormal Romance >
      • WOLF GAMES >
        • FERAL PASSIONS
        • WILD PASSIONS
        • DANGEROUS PASSIONS
      • Wolf Tales Series >
        • Wolf Tales Novels >
          • Wolf Tales
          • Wolf Tales II
          • Wolf Tales III
          • Wolf Tales IV
          • Wolf Tales V
          • Wolf Tales VI
          • Wolf Tales VII
          • Wolf Tales VIII
          • Wolf Tales 9
          • Wolf Tales 10
          • Wolf Tales 11
          • Wolf Tales 12
        • Wolf Tales novellas >
          • Chanku Rising
          • Chanku Dawn
          • Chanku Fallen
          • Chanku Journey
          • Chanku Destiny
          • Chanku Wild
          • Chanku Honor
          • Chanku Challenge
          • Chanku Spirit
      • Spirit Wild Series >
        • Dark Stranger
        • Dark Captive
        • Dark Terror
        • Dark Refuge
        • Dark Moon
        • Dark Spirit
        • Dark Wolf
      • Dream Catchers Series >
        • Dream Catcher
        • Dream Bound
        • Dream Unchained
      • Demon Lovers Series >
        • Unbalanced
        • Unbound
        • Unmasked
        • Unleashed
        • Undaunted
    • Contemporary Romance >
      • 68 & Climbing
      • Cowboy in My Pocket
      • The Promise of Love
    • Changeling Press titles
    • Dream Catchers shorts...
  • Connect
  • FAQ
  • Chanku
    • Books list
    • The Pack
    • Chanku timeline
    • Wolf Tales Family Tree
    • Detailed Chanku history-spoilers!
  • Newsletter
  • Updates & Projects
  • all-books
  • Synopsis
  • CRITTERCAM 1
    • CRITTERCAM 2

June 2014 newsletter--just under the wire...

6/30/2014

 
Picture























There are still a few openings for Authors After Dark. 
I'm going!

Yes, folks, this is my June newsletter, and I'm admitting to barely squeaking in under the wire, but it's been crazy busy here. I was almost done with Intimate when my editor asked me to make the story longer, so I've been going back and doing things with it I wanted to do before but didn't have the room with the original word count. It's taking me longer, but there's going to be a lot more meat to the story.


It's been hot and dry here. I'm so glad we don't have a lawn, as the beautiful yards here in town are mostly brown. (You can tell when someone's not being careful with water usage--green and lush is NOT good!) Dirty cars and brown lawns are becoming a symbol around town, though my husband did manage to wash my filthy Subaru with a one gallon bucket of recycled water, and rinsed it with about the same amount, also recycled. I was impressed. Of course, I must drive with a look of shame on my face...


Our yard is mostly drought tolerant plants and everything is on drip. Even so, we've managed to cut our water usage by over 40% compared to last year. It hasn't been that difficult--larger wash loads, saving the water that generally goes down the sink while waiting for hot water in the shower--that sort of thing. Our lives revolve around those big, white, five gallon buckets!


The drought was really brought home to us when we traveled into northern California for a short getaway earlier in the month. The beautiful wetlands up near Tule Lake were bone dry. That's a major rest stop for migrating waterfowl, and there were very few areas with any water at all. It's pretty scary stuff.


Enough doom and gloom--I won't be around much over the next couple of weeks as our son and his family are here for their annual summer vacation. Of course, since they live in Hawaii, it's hard to know what they're vacationing from...too much paradise? We only get all six grandkids together a couple of times a year, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone.


As soon as I finish writing INTIMATE, I plan to jump right into the next book. Still not sure of a title, but since I'll be writing about a man who is trying to find peace after making some terrible mistakes in his youth, I'm leaning toward the title, REDEMPTION. Not sure if my editor will go for it or not. My agent doesn't think it's sexy enough. Personally, I don't think there's anything more romantic than a strong man brought to his knees by love, one willing to become a better man because he's found a woman who loves him even though he's flawed.


Benjamin Lowell is deeply flawed, but after almost twenty years' worth of penance, it's time for him to find out what life really has to offer.


I've had a chance to read some wonderful stories over the past couple weeks--RIVER'S BEND by JoAnn Ross, a revised, expanded version of her book, Murphy's Law. It's wonderful, a real "feel good" story. That's been my theme over the past few weeks--reading books that make me feel good! Obviously, Robyn Carr's newest, THE PROMISE, was a perfect fit. An excellent story and a wonderful chapter to her Thunder Bay series. One of the gems I read was a novella by Susan Fox, aka Susan Lyons, aka Savanna Fox. STAND BY YOUR MAN is part of her Caribou Crossing series. Susan has the amazing skill to take flawed characters and turn them into perfect romance heroes. She also writes multicultural stories with the characters so perfectly drawn that you can't help but see them as real people.


I've always liked the idea of writing stories with variations of race and ethnicity without bludgeoning the reader OVER the head with the characters' color. I recently received a one star review on Amazon from a reader who bought DARK REFUGE because there's a "black man" on the cover, and then she trashed the book because I didn't talk about Gabe's "blackness." Those of you who read the series know that Gabe is biracial--his father, Anton Cheval, is white. His mother, Keisha Rialto Cheval is black, but all three of them are Chanku. That's the most important racial/species characteristic Gabe--or any of the pack--have, but I guess you can't please everyone.


Okay...rant over. I hope you've all had a good start to the summer. For those of you looking for reading material, I'm offering ebook copies of some of my self-published stories, mainly because it's easier to send an ebook via email than to package and mail a print book.


Choose one of the following titles, and PLEASE note it in your entry. I've been pretty forgiving, but not this month. When you enter the contest, I'll need your name and email address, but instead of your street address, tell me the title of the book you want, and the FORMAT! Be specific--mobi, epub, pdf, or html. You can choose from the following titles:

COWBOY IN MY POCKET
CARVED IN STONE
LETHAL DECEPTION
LETHAL OBSESSION
68 & CLIMBING
UNBALANCED
(Oops...Unbalanced is already free online! I forgot...)
UNBOUND

UNLEASHED
UNMASKED 
UNDAUNTED
DARK SPIRIT
DARK REFUGE
Picture
That's it for now--I won't pick winners until next weekend, so you've got time to enter. There are first chapter excerpts of all those titles on my website, so if you're curious you can check them out. Get your entries in--name, email, title and format.


And don't forget to take time for yourselves. Life's pretty busy--we all need to learn to slow down and enjoy. And if you're curious about the pictures of the lily up above, I was so fascinated by the difference in photos taken in daylight and at night that I wanted to share. And I'll close with a shot of this little guy, cheerfully munching away on my parsley...if you're on Facebook, you may have already seen him! He'll grow up to be a yellow swallowtail butterfly.

Have a wonderful FOURTH of JULY, all of you folks here in the states!


Kate

May 2014 Contest Winners --Contest is now closed and all prizes awarded

6/1/2014

 
Picture
Congratulations to my May newsletter contest winners and thanks to Random.org, the site I use to choose my winners. If you won ebooks, they have been sent to you in the format requested. Print copies of Dark Moon and the two book set of Dream Bound and Dream Unchained will go out Monday afternoon.

There was a problem with this month’s contest in that very few of you told me what book you preferred. When I give more than one title as an option, please note the title you prefer. It saves me the time and effort of having to chase you down for the information. I really do work on a very tight schedule, and the only way I can continue to do contests is if you’re willing to meet me half way. I don’t have an assistant—it’s just me, in my office, addressing packages and stuffing envelopes. 

At least I get to do it in my jammies!

The same goes with ebooks. I need to know the title and format you prefer. I have epub, mobi or pdf of some but not all of my books. There’s plenty of room to add that information in the address area of the contest entry form, and I’ve added a reminder for next month’s contest. (well, actually this month!)


Thanks for entering! I’ve gotten tons more entries over the past couple months, so the newsletter on the website appears to be working. 

May 2014 Contest Winners Are:
Print copies of Dark Moon:
Tina from Florida, 
Nahoma in Mississippi
Kittie in Pennsylvania. 
The two-book set of Dream Bound and Dream Unchained will go to:
Amber in Illinois

Emily in California 

Ebooks have been sent to:
Laura and TinaMarie in the US
 and will go to Mercedes in Spain
as soon as she contacts me with her title and format preference.



Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    I'm a romance author--I really love those happy endings, though I don't mind putting my characters through pure, unadulterated hell before they get there...

    RSS Feed

       Newsletter Contest:
    Contests are back! I'm not totally settled, but really miss giving things away, so ready or not, I'm going to start slow. International entries are welcome, though I will have to limit International winners to ebooks. Postage costs are just too high. Your addresses will not be shared or sold--I respect your privacy. I will only collect addresses if I am giving away print books. I won't be doing that as much because I've got very few print books left in my stash, but I do have other things!

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    March 2021
    May 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Categories

    All
    Book Recommendations
    Contest
    Kate Douglas
    RWA2014
    Spirit Wild Series
    Winners

Picture