Hi there!

It’s summer? I hadn’t noticed!

Ok, that’s maybe a tiny exaggeration, but it’s fair to say that I haven’t seen a lot of sunlight this summer. For the last few months I’ve been trying to get to grips with the latest book, and as the sun hasn’t exactly been glaring down on us in this part of the world, that means a lot of time stuck indoors with my nose in front of my laptop screen.

As usual, I took August off work, partly to spend with my youngest son during the school holidays (Who am I trying to kid! I can’t unpeel his face from his TV screen or pry the x-box controller out of his hand!) and partly to get on with writing the, as yet untitled, ‘book 11’.

Well, things started off slowly, when I suddenly developed the worst toothache! My wonderful dentist, Rachel, found an abcess which required me to take antibiotics for a week, plus a bucket full of painkillers, followed by a root canal job! Fantastic way to spend your time off! The only positive note is that I was off work, because I’d have hated to go through all that pain and suffering and be in work all day! No thank you! Nuh-uh!!

So, that killed my appetite to write for about ten days. I did manage a few thousand words, but goodness knows what tripe they’ll turn out to be, as I was high as a kite when I wrote them. Hopefully they’ll be made to make sense or deleted during the editing process, because I have no idea what I was talking about. (Who just said – ‘Does she ever?’? Tsk.)

So, what’s it about, this book 11, I hear you cry?

Well, those of you who were paying attention a couple of months back will remember I said that book 11 would be Charlie Lamar’s story? Yeah, well…. scratch that! The minute I sat down with my laptop and started writing, Charlie’s story completely went out of my head, and it turned into Alex Morales story. You remember Alex? Candy’s teenage son, first mentioned in Impossible?

Well, a number of years have passed since Impossible, and Alex is all grown up now. We meet him in book 11 as the handsome young Marine Lieutenant Alex Morales, a 24 year old hunk with a heart (When did one of my guys not have a heart?) doing his duty for his country.

Our heroine is a beautiful Russian/American newly qualified doctor, and the story is about….

Come on! You seriously didn’t think I was going to give it all away here, did you? LOL

Ok, you want me to give you something, I guess? Ok, hmmm..

• It’s mostly not set in the USA.
• You meet a bad guy from a previous book. (No, I’m not telling you which book!)
• Several of the Alpha/Stalwart women show their badass side, and we’re not just talking about Hannah, Queen of badass, and her protégés, Sacha and Abbey.
• More new characters are coming into play (male), and we get to see Hollywood and Eli on the same team. (Hollywood is shaping up to be the new Danny/Matt/Marcus. In other words – he’s a funny guy!)

The best part is I have some great new material for the next series (after book 12).

What I also have is a headache. ‘WHY?’ I hear you ask, whilst passing me some Advil…. (Other brands of headache tablet are available…)

Well firstly, I have no idea of a title for the book. Anyone who wants to throw in a suggestion, just go for it… One word. Maybe something that will describe our new hero or heroine. No prize for the winner, but I’ll put a thank you in the front of the book to anyone who comes up with something brilliant, and a mention on my website. (No, you don’t get to copyright it, or a share of the royalties either!)

My second headache is about what to do after book 12. The ideas I’ve got could lead to a new series that spins off from Alpha/Stalwart, but completely splits from series 1 & 2. OR, it could just follow on, taking with it some (or all) of the original characters. Hmm… What to do?

I’d love to hear from anyone who has an idea or three about what they’d like me to do next.

Personally, I struggle to think about leaving characters like Danny, Hannah, JT and Tuck behind, but then I’m not a reader, prepared to part with their hard earned money. You are… so tell me what you think.

Anyway, now I’ve set you all some homework, I’m off to do some more writing. I’m about 3/4 of the way through, and on a roll, so I don’t want to back off now. Hoping to be finished in the next week or two, so that I can go back to work in September for a rest. 😉

Enjoy what’s left of the summer, and I’ll try and get back to you soon.

Take care,
Beth
xx

PS. I’ll be posting something next week for my ‘friends’, you know where…! Not yet! Come back! I said next week! Sheesh!
Anyone who wants to be added to my ‘friends’ list, just let me know. I don’t bite! Go on, it only takes an e-mail. (You know you want to!)

PPS. I had a lovely token sent to me by the wonderful folk at Active Heroes.org, as a thank you for all the gifts I’ve sent them over the last year. Check it out on my US charity page. My favourite US charity

If any of you get a chance to support them, especially my readers in the US, please do. They do such important work to reduce military/veteran suicide. Thanks.