Category Archives: Books

Here comes book two…

dangerous-secretsHappy Sunday everyone! I hope everyone is have a fabulous day. I know I am despite the very early hour I got up today, despite how late I hit my pillow last night – really it was earlier this morning. But up I did get, I was even very productive given how foggy minded I was. Did up a loaf of bread while I did a bit of cleaning, am now on a second pot of coffee and still need to get some shopping done as well as helping out a friend with a wee bit of a task. Bonus of staying up late last night, I got the bits and pieces for a little video promo.

Which, speaking of, is for book two of the C&M Security series. Dangerous Secrets will be out on August 13 – this coming Wednesday. For a look at what the book is about you can head over to the Dangerous Secrets page for a peek. There is also a video over there too from a fellow author, April Zyon who is also a part of the Evernight Family. I will post up the links as soon as I have them, Evernight will be first – of course – and likely Tuesday evening since they can get it posted quickly. Then with the others to follow as soon as I get them.

Now for a little something you might not know. I have a group set up on Facebook that are strictly for the readers of my works, or friends of readers, or just fans. If you, or anyone you know, is interested you should come on over. The group is called Moira’s Maidens since that’s what was the most liked option. There are exclusive sneak peeks, teasers and excerpts not found anywhere else, even on my personal or fan page. Right now there’s the entire first chapter of Dangerous Secrets up for anyone who’d like to join up. We even occasionally have cookies.

That’s it everyone. I have to get my butt in gear and get moving. Have a lovely day ~ Moira

Just relaxing

Not sure what all I plan to get up to today. Relaxing is at the top of my “to do” list for sure.

I do plan on doing some writing, C&M 4 is still in the works with the crescendo scene quickly approaching. It’s one of the few books of this series that won’t have an immediate bad guy being shown for the readers to get behind. This bad guy’s totally hidden, and will remain so until… Well, I can’t tell you that because that would just ruin the surprise. Which if the characters play along as they should, should be pretty fucking amazing. Course, they do seem to have a mind of their own, so we’ll have to wait and see if they are willing to continue playing ball or not.

Other than a little bit of shopping for me, my b-day gift to myself, I have no other major plans outside of reading a couple of new books that I have awaiting me in my Kindle. Today though will be pure laziness. Lots of movie watching, lots of chocolate eating and some writing. Beyond that I plan on doing nothing strenuous. Though I think I may need to go and beef up my chocolate supply. Only downside to living alone, you can’t blame anyone else for eating your chocolate stash lol!

Well, that’s it folks. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. From a sunny Calgary, hope you all have a marvellous day ~ Moira

Getting things accomplished

Since being under the weather I hadn’t really gotten a lot done. A couple bursts of energy though definitely came through at the right time.

The first being yesterday to let me get a whack more writing done on C&M book 4. I’d gotten to a point where I feared I might have written myself into the proverbial corner. But, along with that burst of energy came some inspiration and a plot twist to explain everything, as well as keep me from backing into that corner. Got a good 7k words down yesterday before the brain called it quits and ordered me off to bed.

In other news, the first round of edits came in from Evernight. Bad news was I was in no condition to even look at them until today. Great new was that I have the fantastic Laurie Temple for my editor once again. This woman has seen me through both my previous books, keeping me and my characters in line. Couldn’t ask for a better editor.

Got all the edits done with the second wonderful burst of energy, and a lot of coffee to keep it going. Downside to that is I’m now buzzing around on caffeine so I think I’ll do some writing and burn it up while I have it.

Dangerous Secrets, C&M Security book 2 will be out sometime in July I believe. No date yet set but I will announce it as soon as I know when it will be releasing. Until then I am off to write, write, and write some more before I have to face going to work tomorrow.

10527366_284094728443222_7015729994854315924_nOh! Before I forget, just remember there is only a little over one day left to purchase a book from the Evernight and Evernight Teen sites where the book cover price, in full, will be donated to World Vision’s Education for Girls Fund. Any and all books are included in this amazing fundraiser by the Evernight team. But it must be purchased from their sites directly to count toward the grand total.

So have a lovely evening everyone ~ Moira

I’m all giddy!

Just got word, AND signed the contract for book 3 of the C&M Security series. Tentatively titled Dangerous Lines I’m all bouncy and grinning like a goof. Which could be considered a little weird since I live alone, but on the plus side, I live alone so there’s no one here to say anything. I even got the Cover & Blurb thing back to them – I’m like super efficient or something today. At least in terms of my writing lol!

Work on the other hand was barely controlled chaos all day long. For those who haven’t been on my Facebook page and seen where I live, I live in Calgary, Alberta Canada. This is important because it’s the time of year when the city goes crazy for the Calgary Stampede. Basically it all boils down to a ten day period where everyone is a cowboy/girl. This includes business men, house wives and every single, damn tourist that comes to town. Yeah, it’s great it’s such a big thing, people come from all over the world. But, really, could they not accept the Canadian way and be semi-polite while jostling for space on the side walks. There’s room enough for everyone, I swear!

In other news, I’ve been working on C&M 4. Not as dedicatedly as I’d like but, m’eh, I’ll get there. Still looking for the “groove” I need to hit where it just flows… That and I’m still not 100% sure what this one’s about. Working on “feeling” out my characters in this book. Both of which were introduced in book 3 by-the-by. The main male had a bit, but very important role in book 3. The main female was in there a bit more though you really won’t get to see what her role in help book 3’s lead characters was until book 4. Figured it was a good tie in doing it a bit backwards.

Not sure how my editor will feel about it all – hopeful she doesn’t smack my fingers overly hard. LOL! Well, methinks that be it for the night. I have writing and plotting to do, so be good everyone. From a slightly overcast Canadian city hosting “The Biggest Outdoor Show on Earth”, I bid you good evening ~ Moira

Day three of a four day weekend

Well, obviously I needed the time off! Without family obligations, hordes of running around, or dozens of projects to see to. Because, finally, I’ve got C&M book 3 done! That’s right, done. I’ve gone through the spell check, grammar check as far as I can figure it out (thank goodness for editors), and written up the synopsis. Which is really one of my least favourite parts of writing. But, it’s completed and ready to send off.

All I need to do now is package it up, hit send, and then it’s out of my hands. It feels really good to get this sucker done, lol! It gave me more than a couple grey hairs I think. Not that anyone will ever know for sure, wink-wink.

Of course, with C&M 3 out of the way I now need to start plotting on the fourth instalment. I already know who the characters will be, had that figured out a while back actually. The only book that was completely unexpected, yet insisted on being written, was book 2 of the series. It just came to me, but didn’t fit any of the set characters I already had planned. So, with a shrug, I tossed it into the mix. Which I think was a really smart plan. While I obviously plan most of the stories to a degree, a surprise here and there along the way isn’t amiss.

It fits in well with the rest of the books, showed a little more as well as a different look at C&M, the staff and their jobs, and it brought one of the characters (a main in book 3) out a little more. All in all it was a very happy little surprise.

Well, it’s about dinner time around here so I’m going to go and send off my stuff to Evernight and start cooking. Hope everyone has a lovely evening ~ Moira

Day two of a four day weekend

It’s been a pretty productive day over all. At least in my writing world, lol! Everything else, well – I’m just ignoring it until later, or it comes after me, whichever happens first. It was a very rainy day, apparently the weather guy wasn’t wrong – for once. Which meant I had the absolutely perfect excuse to stay inside and write. And write I did.

I’ve got my main female character facing off against our bad guy. He’s in the midst of messing with her, little taunts and threats, that sort of thing. He’s a very polite, well educated, yet ruthless jackass of a man. I’m hoping I’ve developed him into the sort of bad guy that, even while people secretly kind of maybe like him, they want to see him go down. Because, even though he has his own sets of standards, his own moral code, he’s an asshole that needs to be tossed under the jail. Not sure if I’m accomplishing that great feat, but I’m ever hopeful.

Really, my biggest thing is, making him real and believable. Yes he’s a dick, yes he’s the “bad guy”, yes we all know he’s going to get what he’s got coming (cause that’s how I write them), but he still has to feel “real” to the readers. Cause, if they don’t buy it, then the whole thing just flops. Which would abso-freaking-lutely suck ass.

Well, I think that’s about it. I have to go and torment my lead female character a little more, see about the grand rescue, and then a little hanky panky between the leads. Which, given a number of things that have happened to them up to this point, will be pretty damn hot. Have a good night ~ Moira

First in a series…

dangeroustimes1sComing this Thursday Dangerous Times, is the first book of the C&M Security series. I’m very excited about this series, it’s my first one, and it’s also a slightly different take for me on a romantic story. It’s got mystery, it’s got danger, and it’s got some good old fashioned heat.

In book one we get to meet the delightfully adorable, Tamara Phillips. She’s a photographer who lives on her caffeinated beverages and hates mornings. Okay, I admit, those two traits are all me. Gotta put a little of yourself into your works, right? She meets up again with the sinfully sexy, Shawn Camden. He’s co-owner in C&M Security – the “C” if you need a hint as to how I came up with the name of his company.

I had a lot of fun writing this first book in the series. It was a great stretch of my abilities to try something new. Never having done anything with a bit of mystery behind it, and keeping the “big secret” actually a secret to the end, was definitely a challenge. So many times I caught myself giving something away that I knew would just ruin the effect I was attempting to create.

Thankfully my editor, the wonderfully talented Laurie Temple, was on my side of keeping the “secret” a secret. Normally not identifying a key character is a no-no, but in this case it was necessary to assist in leading the reader along just so. Then, at the end, WHAM! Big reveal. I also have to give a shout out to the talented cover artist who does all the Evernight Publishing covers, Sour Cherry Designs did a fantabulous job on the cover for this – so thanks!

That’s it for tonight I think, I have writing to do, characters to mess with, and a plot to twist up into knots. ~ Moira

Ahhh, Friday

Finally! It was a long, long week. Thankfully it is over. Unfortunately I know just how the next one’s going to start – not very pleased about that part. Not much to do about it though, so I shall enjoy my weekend, and ignore the fact it will be over far too soon.

This weekends big plans involve doing up edits on C&M Security, book one. I would have done them sooner but I just couldn’t concentrate, had a headache the one night, and was just too damn tired the rest of the time. So, tomorrow while I ingest mass quantities of coffee I will be reading through all the little notes my editor likely has in there. Oh, there will be many I’m sure.

I am hopeful though that it’s not overly horrendous. Oh, how I feel for you my poor editor. I do hope I’m learning though. Slowly I shall be the first to admit, but I truly think I am learning a bit of this. So we shall see. I did open it enough to see who the editor was, and read her first comments. But that was all I could manage since my head was just not in the game. Hell, I had to read it four times just to get what she was saying. All good in that initial comment I will say, thank God.

After I sweat my way through the edits I think I’ll get some writing done. I really haven’t done much this past week. I’ve got my path I intend to take on C&M 3, it should be great if it writes the way I think it will. As long as my characters don’t get all up in arms and decide to take over running the show. I never know with them, they are a bunch of characters for sure…HA!

Well, that’s it for me. I think it will be a nice and lazy night tonight. Have a great night, sweet dreams, and have a wonderful weekend ~ Moira

It’s only Tuesday!

Damn it. Yup, this just sucks. It’s going to be a long, long week, I feel it. Given the whacko’s I’ve already had to deal with at the paying gig (aka: day job) in the last two days I can only hope that they find their mother ship and return to wherever the hell they came from. There’s a planet out there in the universe that is clearly missing all their village idiots.

On much happier notes, I have the first round of edits back for C&M Security book 1. Took a quick peek in to see who my editor was, I have been blessed, I got the wonderful Laurie T again. I haven’t actually read through to see all her comments yet, but I will do that likely tomorrow. I just don’t have the energy tonight to even contemplate doing up edits. My brain isn’t in it.

No date yet on when it will come out, but I won’t really know until after round two edits are returned. I do know it’s this month so, yippee! for that at least, lol! Book 2 will be out in July, and if I keep going on book 3 the way I am, I might just manage to get it slotted in for August. If I can get beyond a point I’m currently wobbling at. I haven’t quite decided what to do with the situation my characters find themselves in.

It’s sort of a pivotal moment, depending on what I decide to do here will determine the next few chapters. I’ve been running various scenarios in my head, making notes and playing with it to see what would work best for the overall story and for the books to follow. While each book centers around the main characters, I do little lead ins, introductions and tiny reveals in each book so that there’s a sort of central thread through them all. At least that’s what I’m hoping I’ve achieved, lol! We’ll see if it works the way I hope it shall.

Well, that’s all I have to say tonight…I think. Off to watch a little nice, mindless, TV before I crash ~ Moira

Happily plotting

It’s Saturday, a bit overcast, but quite pleasantly warm. So I figured I’d set up out on my balcony to write for a while. Fresh air, sounds of the city around me, and just enough sun not to freeze to death. It was an awesome plan. Got a lot of writing done on the new C&M Security book. Book three for those keeping track. Got just over 3500 words down on the page and already my lead female character is in shit up to her eyeballs.

Unlike the other books so far in this series, this one my lead character is heading straight into danger, willingly I should mention. She’s a police detective so that’s kind of her gig. Unfortunately for my leading gal, no one actually has much of a clue as to just who they are going up against, who they are rescuing her from. Neither did she until it was too late. Much too late.

Muahahaha! Yeah, I’m evil. I just LOVE putting characters into precarious positions and then trying to figure out how to dig them out. I do a bit of plotting ahead of time, more or less enough to know what the bad guy is after -his ultimate goal- but let the characters guide the story for a good portion of it. I like seeing where they pull things, often it’s to places I never would have been able to think up sitting there staring at a blank word doc.

I’m not saying that where they pull me is always the best place. Hell no! For instance, in book two of this same series, my lead male character nearly had him and those he was with, doing something highly questionable, and very illegal. I had to kibosh that right quick. Can’t be having any of that, especially since that isn’t who they are at their core. While the staff of C&M Security might play a little loose and free with the law, they can’t break it. So, after a knuckle whack or three, I got them back on track with a slightly less dramatic, but much better for the overall storyline, path. They were happy, no criminal records or jail time, and I was happy, no supporting of illegal activities just because you can. Don’t need to be setting that sort of precedent.

Now, had I written about a thief, totally different standards there. I can’t write about a thief that never steals anything, that would go against who I was writing and the story I was creating. But these guys work with law enforcement so, bending a little is okay, outright breaking is very, very bad.

Well, that’s enough of a break, back to writing now. Need to see if I can make about 5k words before dinner. Have a good day everyone ~ Moira