Publishing Limbo

I'm Melissa Blue and I just received the best news today; my book How Much You Want to Bet? will be released on February 15th, 2008. I'm so excited...so you ask, what's with the title?

Technically I'm still an unpublished author.

I have a cover. I have the final, final copy of my book. I have a release date. The technicality is my book isn't out yet. Semantics, I know, but there you have it. Right now I'm still in the fuzzy state of unpubbed and pubbed author. (What most would call the gray area.) I started this book almost two years ago. It's gone through many changes, but now I'm done. No more revisions. No more adding a little here or there. No more polishing.

Done.

*sigh*

And now it's ready to go out in that big unknown world called publication. Can you smell the fear laced with excitement.

*sigh*

So let me stop dawdling and start promoting. Let me introduce Neil and Gib:

She straightened, knowing, just knowing, he
was about to back out. Her lips curved into a smile.
“Want to make one last speech? Go ahead.”

The bar quieted, every motion stilled, waiting.
The tension in Neil’s shoulders built as Gib
rounded the sea of green to her. His gait, slow and
sure, exuded the confidence of a man who had
traveled this particular path many times before.
Naive of her, but Neil wasn’t wary of the grin. He
always grinned.

“Wanted to give you a good-luck charm before
you win.”

She laughed and put out her hand. He
grabbed it and like a backwards sucker punch
pulled her to his lips. Those lips turned hot as they
moved over hers. The taunting quip fell from her
mind. There was no way to think beyond his mouth
on hers. He nipped at the corners of her mouth and
Neil forgot she was in a smoky bar full of her
neighbors and coworkers. It had been close to a
year since she’d let a man touch her. The hard
body pressed against hers was not that of someone
she disliked but that of a man, and she, a woman,
was more than willing to take the passion offered.

Neil fisted her hands in his hair. More. More.
More. More. The word sounded like a chant in her
head as his taste teased. She needed more. Their
tongues mated, hers darting in and out, lapping at
the spicy tendrils that clung to the taste of him—
beer, peanuts, and temptation. The thought flitted
through her head, the only one able to seep
through, that there was more to this man than
starched white business shirts. Neil was on the
edge of a moan when she felt the corners of his
mouth lift.

Then he damned her in one breath. “Good
luck.”


Okay, what have we learned here? That there is such a thing called Publishing Limbo. Also this wonderful book will be available the day after Valentine's Day, Feb. 15.