Where have I been????

Oh, my...
It's been a long, damn time since I posted a blog here. So long, in fact, that I doubt if anyone will even see this. 

2019 wasn't the best year of my life. Last Christmas, I started having stomach trouble and was diagnosed with gastritis. I had an EGD for that, and then a CT scan and all sorts of other tests after blood showed up in my urine, for which no cause was ever found. To treat the gastritis, I was told not to eat spicy food, chocolate, caffeine, or acidic foods, which, as you know, are many of the things that make life worth living. I was also instructed to take sucralafate 1 hour before meals, which is kinda tricky, especially on those days when I had no idea exactly when my next meal would be. I got a little better, but the problem never really went away. Most days I felt tired and nauseated, and the very last thing I felt like doing was sitting down at my computer to write. I read a lot, but tended to fall asleep in my recliner on most afternoons.

At the RWA conference in NYC this past July, I received some motivation and encouragement from my writer pals to work on an old manuscript since I couldn't seem to finish a new one. I pulled out the file for Out of Bounds, an MMF romance I'd written several years ago. At the time, it was a departure for me to write a menage, but it was also written in first person from the point of view of an ex pro quarterback. I had a lot of fun writing it, but because Sourcebooks wasn't quite ready to publish an MMF romance, it's been languishing in my files ever since. When I started working on it, I discovered that even if I couldn't write anything new, I could at least edit what I'd already written. I gave it a good polish and sent it through a round of edits from my team of excellent critique partners.

Then, on a follow up visit a couple of months ago, my doctor decided that since I was still having periodic episodes of stomach trouble, I likely had gastroparesis from being diabetic for roughly ten years, rather than gastritis. Basically, the vagus nerve, which does a lot of other important stuff, is responsible for telling the stomach when to empty, and with gastroparesis, it occasionally forgets to do its job, and anything I've eaten just sits there, causing an assortment of symptoms. He told me to wean off the sucralafate and eat small frequent meals. It's taken a while, but the stomach thing finally settled down to the point that I didn't feel queasy anymore, although I was still tired all the time and more than a little depressed.

After a bit of research, I discovered that the metformin I've been taking for years to control my diabetes was probably the cause of my mental fog. Without a small dose of caffeine in the morning, I didn't feel like doing anything, and even though metformin is reputed to increase life expectancy, the thought of living another twenty years in a fog wasn't terribly appealing. Then about a week ago, I decided my stomach could probably handle a fourth of a caffeine pill, and, surprise, surprise, my brain started working again. I finished the formatting and uploading and tweaking of Out of Bounds today, and hit the publish button on all the usual sites.

Out of Bounds will be released on February 4, 2020, which would have been my mother's 90th birthday had she not died from lung cancer at the age of 47. I doubt that the subject matter would've been a favorite with her, but it seemed fitting, somehow. It's already available for preorder from Amazon. B&N says it's ready, but as I write this, the link they sent me doesn't work. Maybe by tomorrow.

Anyway, here's a little bit about the book...

"Captivating! Prepare to read in one sitting." --TC Winters

He fell for another man.
Then he met the perfect woman...

After a career-ending injury, ex-quarterback Kyle Sorenson finds himself crammed into a tiny office with the adorable David Adams. Falling for another man is a first for Kyle, and he is determined to hide his feelings until David makes a play for him.

With David as his partner, Kyle is happier than he's ever been-until Linda Nelson comes on the scene. Once again, Kyle resolves to deny the attraction, but David insists that the three of them can have it all.

Happiness is almost within reach when unforeseen events threaten to destroy everything. Now the men must prove to Linda that taking on two husbands won't be the biggest mistake of her life.