October 2008
Hi Everyone!
It was a joy to work on a novella with Susan Grant, one of my favorite writers. We had a lot of fun weaving information between our two novellas so that they give the reader a chance to integrate both of them in a unique way. Susan and I are military veterans. You can read up on this fantastic woman writer at her website: www.susangrant.com and read her blog at: www.susangrant.blogspot.com.
Needless to say, I'm proud to be working with another vet. We're 'can-do' type of women. For those of you who have been pining away for another Black Jaguar Squadron (BJS) story--here it is! And those who have been asking over the years for Dallas to have a book--well, here it is! And, this novella sets up a new series with Silhouette Suspense in which the BJS will once again, own the skies! It just goes to show that if you email or write to me about what you'd like to see next, that it works. I'm looking forward to penning three more BJS novels for you.
THE CHRISTMAS WILD BUNCH is about executive office for the Black Jaguar Squadron. Major Dallas Klein finally leaves Peru and their secret base run solely by officers and enlisted women, for a border assignment. Dallas is asked to become executive officer for the Border Patrol and will be in charge of flying Cessna aircraft over well known drug corridors in Mexico to the US border. Mike Murdoch, ATF agent, is the head of the "wild bunch" at the Border Patrol airfield just inside the US boundary. Murdoch does not want to have a woman for a boss. The sparks fly immediately between them and Dallas doesn't tread lightly. She's been in charge for years and knows what it takes to whip the Wild Bunch into shape to chase the bad guys, the drug smugglers. Will Mike bend his iron will to her steel will? Or not? These two get along like a cat and dog warily circling one another. And yet, they are inexplicably drawn to one another. Will Dallas be able to tame this group of challenging ATF pilots? Or not?
Fall 2006 Newsletter
Hi Everyone!
What a busy year! I care take my 90 year old mother and for those who are in their 50’s and 60’s, you know that age does have its ups and downs. And although she’s going strong, she’s still slowly going down hill and my time is being taken up more than usual with her needs--which is okay with me, but it does stop me from putting out my newsletter and other things from time to time.
So, I’m trying to get back in the saddle here, so to speak,and share with you on my writing projects. A writer is not just a writer. A writer has a life, family responsibilities just like you....and the writing gets put in around these important other things in one’s life.
First of all, thank you, dear readers, for your enthusiasm for my Silhouette Nocturne launch book, UNFORGIVEN! It was a joy to participate in this new series opening about the metaphysical/paranormal. Many of you know this is right down my alley since I was raised and taught metaphysics from a very young age by my mother and father.
And, thanks to you, UNFORGIVEN was #10 on the Waldenbooks Bestseller list a week before its release. This meant that your PRE-orders were so high that it actually put the book on the list! Wow! That has never happened to me before, so thank you! And then,the week of its release, 9.26.06, it shot to #1 on the Walden’s list. The week after that, it remained at #1. The FOURTH week, it was #8....such was the strength of your buying it. Incredible! I’ve never had a series book remain on Walden’s list for FOUR weeks in a row! Thank you!
And toward that end, I’ve been getting a number of emails from you enthusiastic folks about the Vesica piscis which is on the cover (the double rings on the heroine’s neck) of UNFORGIVEN. Below is a typical letter from a reader and I thank CB for giving me permission to put it in this newsletter. She goes on to say:
“Hi Lindsay,
I just finished your book, Unforgiven, and had to send you an email.
I’ve been drawn to Metaphysics for a while now and just reading what
you wrote, and how you explained things to the readers through stories
from Reno’s and Calen’s youth, was incredible. It was a pleasure to
read and learn!! Thank you so much. I feel like I was meant to read
this.I went to your website, looking for perhaps a link to a website or a book
to read for my own growth, and was disappointed not to see any. If
you ever thought of updating your website with that kind of information,
I vote yes for it!! I bet you are so busy that you don’t answer emails,
but I was wondering about your note at the beginning of the book on
the Vesica piscis. Do you physically sit in the center of the Eye and
meditate? or do you think about while meditating?Once again, Thanks so much for an enlightening book!
CB”
For those of you who want to actually USE the Vesica piscis symbol, I’ve written a big article on it over at my ‘other’ website which is my metaphysical/paranormal one. The article title is: PREPARING FOR THE GLOBAL SHIFT Moving to the LIGHT from the DARK: How to Do It , by Eileen Nauman.
And, by the way, since I discovered this symbol in 2000 at Chalice Wells, Glastonbury, England, I’ve been utilizing it myself with incredible and interesting results--which is WHY I wrote about it. I sit and meditate in the EYE portion of it, where the two circles overlap one another. I also will create a larger one with two sixteen-foot lengths of red yarn on my office floor and lay down in the EYE, head to toe, within it. Many times, I go to sleep in it, haha.
And working daily or weekly with the VP, as I call it, you can enhance your sleeping. I was having a lot of waking up and going back to sleep back in 2000 before I went to England and discovered this miraculous symbol at Chalice Wells. But after working daily and weekly with meditations within this symbol, my sleeping straightened out and now I get eight hours a night--every night! Sleep is vital for everyone, but never more so for a writer!
Please try it out--you will find it amazing, positive and who knows where it might lead you? I know it helps sleeping and stops insomnia--at least, it did mine. So, for those with sleep deprivation--give it a try! If you have any questions, you can always, after reading the above article, email me at: docbones@gotsky.com I’m also in the process of getting a lot of ‘testimonials’ of other people using the Vesica piscis as a symbol for meditation and how it affected and helped them, too.
I intend, with my Silhouette Nocturne series (I’ve signed a 3-book contract with them) to share and divulge actual working tools I was taught since childhood with my readers. These are ‘tools’ anyone can use for positive and useful results. I was taught that if you don’t come from the heart, from a point of compassion for others, that one should never employ such knowledge and this is good advice for me, as a nine year old when I went into training as it is today for me and you.
Also, on another subject, I did a one-month long (almost) blog over at eharlequin.com most of September, 2006 before the release of UNFORGIVEN. Those of you who are interested in writing, I put a lot of time and care into a very thoughtful series on writing, how to write, the business of writing, ect. You can’t access this blog at www.eharlequin.com, just yet. They haven’t put it in the archives, but they will... so be looking for it shortly.
I’ve been working nonstop on Book 2 of the Warriors for the Light series and Silhouette Nocturne. DARK TRUTH, the working title, is going to be out July, 2007. That may seem a long way away but for me, who is working on the final draft that has to be in by contract on December 1, 2006, it is not. I love this book, and I love where it’s going and how it is unfolding....and I hope you will, too!
If you have comments about UNFORGIVEN, your response to the book, please send them to me! I’m compiling them and would like to have your permission to post them in my next newsletter. You can always send them to my above email address with thanks.
What other Lindsay McKenna book is coming out? December, 2006 I’m thrilled in pink to have another Morgan’s Mercenaries book called BEYOND THE LIMIT (HQN--and it will be in the single titles section of your bookstore). It is Marine Corps Major Pete Trayhern’s book! And isn’t it always fun to see how the children of a family develop, evolve and see how life takes them down this path or that? To me, that’s fascinating. And I hope you love Pete’s story as much as I did in creating it! Please do let me know.
And, BEYOND THE LIMIT, for you computer handy readers, is going to be available as an Ebook on the release date, too! All you have to do is order it up at eharlequin.com! What a way to get a book--streaming from the publisher directly into your computer. What a gas! Woulda thunk? The computer age is here big time!
As always, I love to hear from you, my dear readers, about BEYOND THE LIMIT.
What else am I working on? Well, I’m developing a stand-alone, single-title releases via HQN on my Native American novels. The first, HEART OF THE STORM, will be coming out December, 2007. I’m so proud of this book because it is infused from start to finish with the world I routinely live in daily. Native Americans do see life and reality quite differently than most folks and I happen to think it’s a fascinating way of looking at and living life! And thanks to Harlequin, and my editor, Tracy Farrell, who runs HQN, they have allowed me to begin my journey on writing only Native American toned books. They will of course have romance, adventure and action which is typical of any book I write. Only,they will be seen through Native American eyes in totality. I guarantee you, we live in a fascinating, magical world and I hope you will come with me and absorb our culture and our way of seeing life through HEART OF THE STORM when it is released December, 2007.
You won’t want for my books! And, I’ve just signed a contract to do an anthology with Silhouette Romantic Suspense (Silhouette Intimate Moments but their name is going to change as of January, 2007, so note this) with Susan Grant a good friend and sister writer of mine! Sue writes wonderful books and she flies 747 Jumbo Jets for United Airlines, around the world. She was one of the first women to go through the Air Force academy, too, and I have deep respect for her moxie and courage. You can visit Sue’s website at: www.susangrant.com and she’s got a great, ongoing blog about her flight travels and tribulations at: www.susangrant.blogspot.com Be sure to check them out! She’s a lot of fun to read and I’m fortunate enough to be her friend, which I value more than anything. But I’m a great reader of her books too and I urge you to pick them up! You won’t be sorry. And, the kick butt, take names romantic suspense stories we cook up for you will be released November, 2008 as a Christmas anthology! We don’t have a working title yet because it’s so far away, but rest assured, when I get the info, you’ll be the first to know here on my website!
Don’t forget, you can always tag team me at my blog, which I try to update weekly, at: www.talesfromechocanyon.blogspot.com You can see me wearing my many hats, plus being a writer over there. I think it’s a lot of fun to see who a writer really is and this is your opportunity to do just that!
Happy Fall! And Happy Thanksgiving which is coming up shortly. I’m thankful each and everyone of you is in my life. I’m thankful to be living in the USA. Don’t forget....if you can....give to those who have less than we do. I just sent in my yearly donation check to www.heifer.org It is my favorite charity and my way of sharing my money with those who have an awful lot less than I do. If you can afford a donation to your local mission to help folks during the Thanksgiving holiday, please do so. Me? Well, we buy turkeys and take them over to the Cottonwood Mission here in Cottonwood, Arizona.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! And the best of health!
Warmly, Lindsay McKenna