Revise. Rinse. Repeat.

That's what I've been doing these days, revising. It's a normal part of the writing process, and in my humble opinion, it's what makes a book worth reading.

I know some writers who can whip through a manuscript from start to finish, and as soon as they write that last line, they're done. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it), that is not me. :-)

I revise as I go along, deleting a sentence here, adding a sentence there, layering on emotion and thoughts and feelings, removing unnecessary details and striving for "less is more". Then, when I've polished it to the level I'm happy with, I send it to my editor, and guess what? She sends it back with suggestions on how to revise it even further. (This, as you might imagine, is both a blessing and a curse!) :-)

Thankfully-and I mean that sincerely-I almost always agree with her suggestions. Her main suggestion for my latest work, DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE, was to add to the storyline of my favorite character, the Devil himself, Sammy Divine. "Oh, what a hardship!" I wailed gleefully, upon receiving the news.

So that's what I've been up to, and that's what I'll be up to through the month of May. In June, I'll be back online with a host of paranormal pals, when we kick off our new group blog, the Supernatural Underground: Books That Go Bump in The Night (see the post below for details, and click on the link for even more).

Happy May, and keep reading!

Books That Go Bump In the Night

One of the cool things about being a writer is getting to meet other writers, particularly when those other writers are the ones you truly love to read. Thanks to the initiative of the prolific and talented Pamela Palmer (who writes about feline shapeshifters for Avon, elves for Silhouette Nocturne, and time travel for Berkley), I'm about to embark on a joint blogging/Facebook adventure with some wicked cool paranormal/urban fantasy authors, which we're tentatively calling the "Supernatural Underground: Books That Go Bump In the Night".

Authors Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson, Dakota Banks, Colleen Gleason, Juliana Stone, Sharie Kohler, Tracey O'Hara, Merrie Destefano, Kimberly Derting, Pamela and I all write "books that go bump in the night" for our publisher, HarperCollins, under the Avon, Eos and HarperTeen imprints. Many are NYT best-selling, award-winning authors, and together, I honestly believe that we comprise the best of what the current paranormal/urban fantasy genre has to offer! (She says modestly.) :-) Demons, vampires, faeries, werewolves, shapeshifters... maybe even a zombie or two! We'll be blogging about what we're working on, what we're reading, holding contests and giveaways, and will hopefully soon be joined by occasional special guests like Lynsay Sands, Marjorie Liu, and Kerrelyn Sparks.

It's a supernatural smorgasbord! LOL

We're still working out the details, but are starting with a Facebook page, so click THIS LINK and join in the fun. You don't want to miss what we've got in store for our readers!