Exciting News-ish Items!

Wow, this summer has FLOWN by! F-L-O-W-N. I swear it was just barely the last day of school, and next week I'll be starting a new school year. Cray-zy.

Anyway, there have been things happening, as I'm sure there have been for you as well. I had some lofty summer goals for my writing, and I'm happy to report on them.

1. Write the sequel to my adult romance. Check. I drafted the book in June--the same month I got two offers from publishers on the first book. The same month I signed with a new literary agent for that adult romance. So yeah, maybe writing that sequel was done on a high.

2. Edit the inspirational romance I'd written earlier this year. Check. I actually bought several of Margie Lawson's writing packets, and used her Deep EDITS system. I can't recommend it enough. I worked with highlighters and pen on a hard copy of the book, putting in about 10 hours each day for a solid week. Double check. Then I entered all the handwritten changes into the computer for another week. Triple check. More news about this book below.

3. Write the sequel to the inspirational romance. Check. My goal was to write 5000 words each day for 12 days in July, before my big dance trip to Vegas and my family reunion. I ended up drafting the 50,000-word book in only 7 days. Yes, it has holes. Things that need to be fixed, And 10,000 more words. But it's drafted!

So naturally, after my vacations and whatnot, I made myself a list of writing goals for the fall--my busiest time of the year what with school starting and everything. My son's a senior this year too, which means scholarship apps and all that. (I love paperwork, so I'm super excited about this!)

And I decided to publish my inspirational romance under a pen name. I've never been a fan of pen names, but I have all my YA and New Adult stuff under Elana Johnson, and my adult contemporary romance as well. This is inspirational--religious. I decided it needed to be delineated.

So I'll be releasing the first book in the series, SECOND CHANCE RANCH, on September 8. (You can pre-order here.) The second book is in edits right now, and it'll be out on December 1.  I'm writing this series under the name of Liz Isaacson, and you can follow happenings for it on twitter, Facebook, and my blog.

About SECOND CHANCE RANCH: After his deployment, injured and discharged Major Squire Ackerman returns to Three Rivers Ranch, anxious to prove himself capable of running the cattle operation so his parents can retire. Things would be easier if the ranch wasn’t missing 1.6 million dollars, which forces Squire to hire Kelly, the girl who rejected his high school prom invitation, as his accountant.

She’s back in town with her four-year-old son, living in her parent’s basement until she can get her life back together. With fresh ink on her divorce papers and open gashes on her heart, she’s not ready for much beyond her new job on the ranch.

Squire wants to forgive Kelly for ignoring him a decade ago. He’d like to provide the stable life she needs, but with old wounds opening and a ranch on the brink of financial collapse, it will take patience and faith to make their second chance possible.

I'm toying with publishing my YA fantasy, but I also got an offer on one of my YA sci-fi novels from a publisher, and I'm thinking they might be interested in it. So I might wait on that. Either way, it's been an eventful summer!!

How has your summer been??