Utah is buried under a blanket of snow right now, and the roads have been treacherous all day long. The Utah Highway Patrol has responded to hundreds of accidents and they are recommending that everyone stay home and off the roads.

This sounds like good advice to me, and so I am heeding it. Especially since I drive a tin can on wheels. The Hummer is in the shop.

So as the snow falls outside my window, and I wrap up tightly in my blanket, I have some musings to share with you.

My editor called me Monday morning with good news. A big distributor is really getting behind my book, WIVES AND SISTERS, which comes out in paperback in March 2006. This means my print run will be pretty good.

They have also decided to issue BEHIND CLOSED DOORS in mass market paperback, instead of hardback. I have no real issues with this, either, as it’s hard for a relatively unknown author to sell in hardback. How do you convince someone who has never heard of you to shell out $20-$30 for a book?

Even so, some people did, and a lot of people checked it out from libraries, and I’m really thankful for that. And I had a beautiful hardback book.

Now perhaps I can get some numbers.

I’m starting work on book number three, and have come up with what I think is a very solid plot, and am now just waiting to hear back from my editor as to whether or not she agrees.

This business is so much hurry up and wait. You can go for months and decide you are a has-been, or a never-were, and that the entire publishing industry has forgotten you exist and then WHAMMO you are back in business and extremely busy and with a TON of plotting and writing to do.

Luckily for me, Christmas break is a good time to write. Except my kids are home, and that means there will be a lot of duct tape and handcuffs in use at Chez Collins, and I don’t mean for kinky purposes.

How the heck are you supposed to plot a book with sexy heroines and evil villains when teen daughter is screaming at pre-teen daughter to stop touching her stuff, and “I’m bored, can I call someone?” is the only thing you hear over, and over, and over again…..

I’m kidding about the handcuffs and duct tape. Kind of. Mr. Collins is very handy with duct tape, and can perform all types of major surgery and mend just about anything with it, so I’m sure he can whip me up some kind of mouth restraints for the two rugrats.

So, with any luck, it will snow enough to keep us homebound but not enough to knock the power out, so I can work the long break away and come up with my next fabulous and exciting premise….

Stay tuned…..