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I HOPE YOU DANCE...

Talk about new beginnings.

In my writing world I was doing a nice long line dance where my characters were all dancing together in time with the music ... step forward, kick back, slap your fanny and yell, “Hell, yeah!”

Like the line dance, I had all my ducks in a row. One Hot Cowboy, coming out in April…check. Woman’s Fiction book (although we were having trouble with just the right title) coming out in August…check. Mistletoe Cowboy, October…check. Just a Cowboy, December…check. Now slap my fanny and yell, “Hell, yeah!” and get on to the last book in the contract … check.

Then the music stopped.

The line dance broke up and new beginnings began as the band switched from playing a fanny slapping line dance to a two-step.

Uncheck, uncheck, uncheck as I watched the ducks waddle back to the pond in the space of a twenty minute phone call.

One Hot Cowboy, still coming out in April …check.

But there was a whole new bunch of new beginnings on my dance card.

It was time to partner up with the WIP which was supposed to be my spring 2013 book but had been shuffled into the October slot to be my Christmas book. I’d been planning on it being a hot summertime book and suddenly there was snow flying in the air and Christmas songs playing on the radio. It was time to hug up to it and talk the weatherman into changing the temperature from three digit summertime heat to a blizzard and one digit wintertime cold. Changes got made. Christmas will arrive in the form of Mistletoe Cowboy in October. It’s finished and only needs a little polish applied before I throw it across cyberspace to Deb.

But now a new slow song starts and brings another new beginning. It’s time to do some slow dancin’ with my woman’s fiction book. Believe me, it’s a heck of a lot harder to change horses in the middle of a raging river than you think. I’ve been on the romance horse for a long time and the friendship horse is trying to cooperate but the shift is not easy. So we are pushing it ahead to January and I’m going to tinker with it some more. I have every confidence that it is going to strengthen the book and it will sell a million copies (yes, ma’am, I dream big! Hell, yeah!) What fun!

As soon as the woman's fiction song is finished, then it’s take a deep breath, grab a drink and start on edits for Just a Cowboy. It needs a rewrite since it’s now my December book and not the Christmas one. I can't wait to get back to it and visit with Gemma and Trace about all the changes we are about to make.

After that two-step, I get to grab another drink because the next song will start up and I'm changing partners one more time. Dewar and Haley are waiting in line for me. Their story was the middle book but it has moved to the last slot and we're going to dance and talk about the new changes for their story. So I’ll two-step with it so it will be ready for a spring, 2013 publication.

The band has promised that when all the shuffling is done that they’ll play nothing but line dances for a while and all my ducks will be in a row again.

Me?

Change is good and as long as the band is playing, I’m happy to be on the dance floor either line dancing or with a partner! So (raise your glass of wine, shot of Jack Daniels, cup of coffee or even your herbal tea) here’s to the dance, folks. May all your new beginnings bring you happiness and success this year…and like Lee Ann Womack says in her song, if you have a chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance!

Have you ever gotten a phone call that changed your direction? What did you do about it ... dance or sit it out?

There is an ARC of One Hot Cowboy Wedding (April 2012) waiting to give away to one lucky person who comments on this blog today! Interested? (US and Canada Only please. Winner chosen Monday, Jan. 30)

Comments

  1. i never got a call that change my life but when i got an email that i won a giveaway, i will dancing in my bed room ;)


    eli_y83@yahoo.com

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  2. I have gotten a call that changed the direction of my life, or at least my life at that time.

    And OF COURSE you dance! It's dance or die.

    If you "sit it out", you're missing life and all the surprises that life holds.

    So regardless of the tune or the beat or speed, DANCE!

    and HELL YEAH, I want that ARC!

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  3. Eli,
    Thank you for stopping by and if you do get the call you've won, I hope you enjoy the dance.

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  4. Cynthia,
    You got it! Dance the leather right off those boot soles!

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  5. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, life is about learning to dance in the rain!

    Carolyn, I have LOVED reading your books, still looking on amazon for some of the older ones!

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  6. Dianna, ain't it the truth. Just get right out there in the storm and get to dancing! When my editor called and wanted to do some serious shuffling, I decided to enjoy the dance rather than sit down and whine. It's worked beautifully well. Thanks for reading my books and for stopping by today!

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  7. Hi, Carolyn! I'm on the last of my CB books that I found in Ft Smith, so I gotta start prowling the shelves again to find another batch!

    I can't count the times I've gotten those lifechanging phone calls through the years - especially the last 7. Of COURSE you dance! Sometimes with joy and laughter, sometimes with tears and pain, but sitting it out is not an option when it comes to life. I tried that for years, then in one moment, everything I'd worked toward was POOF!...gone in a blink and life was a whole new game. Always dance ... sitting it out only brings on a dose of 'coulda shoulda woulda'.

    Love you! And LOVE your stories!

    Andrea

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  8. Andrea,
    "Coulda, woulda shoulda" sure does haunt a person. Might as well dance and enjoy it and worry about things. Bless your heart for keeping up with my books.

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  9. Regency,
    Short and to the point! Your name is in the hat!

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  10. Carolyn, you're an inspiration! We're all lucky to be on the dance floor with a band to back us up, so I don't care how crazy and off-key the tune gets - I'm dancing! But if your feet get tired, let me know and we'll head back to the table for a shot of whiskey before we start up again!
    Meanwhile, I can't wait to meet that mistletoe cowboy!

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  11. Joanne, looks like we see eye-to-eye! Mistletoe cowboy is in the works and should be on the shelf next October! I can't wait to meet your next hunky cowboy. Love your new cover!

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  12. Yes, there was a phone call that changed the direction life was taking. My husband got a call that there was a project that needed his expertise and could he start in 2 weeks. I was 6 months pregnant, we had a less-than-one year old and the position meant moving to another country. It was an adventure. We danced our way through that one but my husband must have felt like he was leading an unwieldy partner.

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  13. Yes, I've had calls that changed the course of my life, as well as wake up calls in the form of events that have happened. Sometimes the change was better than expected and sometimes not so much. I might have slowed the dance down some, but I always kept going.

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  14. I haven't gotten a call that changed the direction of my life exactly, but when something exciting happens, I'll definitely dance it out :)

    chibipooh(at)gmail(dot)com

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  15. I'm making a lifew changing now, getting a divorce its not final and taking on a new job,its not with kids but I'm excited and I'm working so I can save some money to finish my classes that I had started taking and had to put on hold.I've met a cowboy who is just a friend but gives me the self-estem that i need to hear, its good to be dancing again which I lved to line dance or with a partner,why I stopped thats the big question,I ask myslef, stopped doing alot of things I enjoyed just because I was a mom...oh well thats in the past so now its going forward-love your books and cowboys have always been in my life..thats one good thing that never changed...have a wonderful weekend! My daughter is 18 to day! So happy for her...she's going out camping with my cowboy's helper who's 18 and a group for others..all sweet people...she needs thats..love to win another of your books!

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  16. The call that came which started my path to professional school was life-changing. Of course I danced!

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  17. Lil,
    You made memories that will last all through your life, and you danced! YAY

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  18. Barbara E.,
    Good for you! It's not how fast you dance or how slow, long as you are on the floor.

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  19. Carole,
    Looks to me like you are hearing the music loud and clear. Thanks for reading my books and loving my cowboys!

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  20. Elf,
    And I bet you are so glad you did!

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  21. People make plans and God laughs. I think if we let it throw us instead of just rolling with it we would be too scared to live. I have survived a year of changes. At times it knocked me on my butt but I learned to see each curveball as an opportunity. Just gotta dance, I guess.

    geishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com

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  22. StacieD,
    My daughter says that when she sets her plans in stone that God pitches in a monkey wrench. She had learned to dance really well. Sounds like you have, too!

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  23. Hey, Caroline, I loved the analogy! I have to say that when it comes to two stepping, or any other country-western dancing, I look more like a greenhorn rather than a cowgirl!!!

    :) Congrats on all your changes and getting them done!

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  24. Thanks, Terry!
    And I betcha there's a bunch of cowboys who'd like to test that theory about how you look!

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  25. I love anything about dance, being a professional dancer myself! I specialize in freestyling with one-of-a-kind yoga contortion dance jamming to any genre of music live or recorded. I would love to let loose limberly as a contortion cowgirl in the venues described in your books!

    Cheers!
    Amazing Amy: Contortion, Unique Yoga Dancer

    aharlib@earthlink.net
    http://www.reverbnation.com/amazingamycontortionistuniqueyogadancer

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  26. Hi Carolyn the call in my life would be when I get the highest degree in one of my unit and been rewarded for it. Cheers to you, aretha_zhen@yahoo.com. Don't count me in I am not in USA , just wanna say hello to you because your book is the soon coming book in my country :)

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  27. Cynthia D'Alba, your name just came up out of the boot! Contact me at ccbrown66@att.net with your address.

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