Lots of News (Patricia Potter)

I'm so sorry to be late this Saturday, but a lot has happened in the past week.

I told you last week I was having neck problems. Well, it worsened and I ended up in the emergency room Sunday. Turned out I had a sprained muscle and muscle spasms that also involved the nerves. I couldn't move for the next three days and I ingested so much muscle relaxant and narcotics that I became a zombie. I certainly learned a new appreciation of what Lynn has been suffering these last months.

I started recuperating on Wednesday, and then my Mom got sick. I had not been to see her in five days, and now she has a skin infection. And so I needed to spend more time with her.

But there was good news, too. The editor of Rhapsody Book Club wanted to feature my December book ("Behind The Shadows")for its "Between the Covers" feature in its December edition. There were some great questions that really made me think, and my thinking was not all that clear at the time. But I loved the fact that the editor really "got" the book and was particularly interested in the emotional bonds between daughter and mother and the nuances in the four main characters.

I'm not sure whether I mentioned it, but "Behind the Shadows" has been selected for five bookclubs, including Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, Doubleday, Book of the Month and Rhapsody. I'm certainly rapturous about it.

The next news: I accepted a three book offer for western historicals in Harlequin's Blaze line. They will be shorter than my usual long manuscripts, but I really think, sadly, that the day of long historicals has passed. People just don't have time to read them. So I'm excited about the shorter format. Blaze has just started adding historicals to its line, and authors like Betina Krahn, Hope Tarr, Jacque D'Alessandro and Jade Lee are among the signed authors. I really look forward to writing a short, snappy, sexy book. Best of all, my editor there will be Brenda Chin whom I dearly love. She's one of the best in the business.

If you haven't given the new Blaze historical a look, you might try picking one up.

I do plan to continue writing romantic suspense. I truly love the challenge involved in moving from historicals to contemporary.

That's pretty much all the news for this week.

Now back to trying to catch up for five days in zombie land.