Here at Casa Clare, 2013 is already off to a crazy busy start. I’ve begun working on Striking Distance again, after taking a hiatus. I’ve never struggled with a book so much before, but I’m finally moving forward and very happy with what I have now.

Meanwhile, we’re less than a month away from the big reissue of Ride the Fire (Kenleigh-Blakewell Family Saga, Book 3). The book will be released on Feb. 5 with a new cover, a fresh edit and the long-awaited epilogue... I can’t wait!

As many of you know, Ride the Fire was a very special book for me. The inspiration for the story came while I was writing Carnal Gift. Jamie was sent to England to win the support of Parliament in fighting the French (a trip undertaken in real life by Benjamin Franklin). I researched a bit about the war so that I could have Jamie say something more articulate than, “No, seriously, you all really need to help us. Bad things are happening!”

And that magic moment happened that authors wait for... Zing. The story for Ride the Fire fell pretty much fully formed into my head, along with the delicious hero.

But the story broke so many rules. A heroine who is pregnant by a man who isn’t the hero? Extremely graphic violence? A hero with serious physical scars? The Colonial American frontier? A heroine who had been sexually violated as a child?

I think my editor at the time had some doubts, but I didn’t. I was so driven to write this story that nothing else mattered. Somewhere along the way, I discovered my true voice as a writer.

The book was all-consuming for me. I didn’t clean the house. I didn’t give a damn about my job at the paper and dropped to part time. I didn’t do anything in my spare time but write and drink coffee. This resulted in the Infamous Coffee Shop Incident, which no doubt led to some people’s thinking I was crazy. (Characters should know better than to talk to their writers in public!)

Most of you know that I was sexually assaulted when I was 10. It’s something I’ve been open about for several years now. Ride the Fire became the book into which I poured all of my own personal pain, an experience that was emotionally draining in ways I never would have imagined.

When I finished the book after five short months — a record for me for a historical — I was a wreck. I could do nothing but cry. And cry. And cry. I had intended for the book to have an epilogue, but I couldn’t write it. Could. Not.

My editor read it and was over the moon. She did’t think the book suffered for lack of an epilogue, and so I was official done with it. When it was released, it got rave reviews pretty much across the board, becoming one of my best-selling books.

As a side note, Ride the Fire launched my obsession with the French and Indian War, inspiring the MacKinnon’s Rangers series.

The book has been out of print for ages, but will be back on Feb. 5, polished and preened. I hope you enjoy it!

To celebrate the release of Ride the Fire, we’re hard at work getting new covers made for Sweet Release (Kenleigh-Blakwell series Book 1) and Carnal Gift (Kenleigh-Blakwell series Book 2) and formatting them for publication in print. They’ll be available through CreateSpace, Amazon.com and some other booksellers in copies you can hold. Watch for news about the release dates!

Right now, the first two books in the series are available in a boxed ebook set for $6.99, while the ebooks individually are $3.99.

Other news: Speaking of print releases, we’re almost done putting together the print version of Skin Deep (I-Team After Hours Novella, #1). It’s going to be more expensive than the average paperback by about a dollar, but I can’t help that. I originally didn’t plan to release it in print for that reason. Self-publishing fiction doesn’t make it cheaper. I hate asking people to pay a lot of money for my books, and $8.99 seems like a lot for 200 pages. Besides, everyone has ereaders now, right? Apparently not. I had so many requests for this book in print, that I’m going ahead with a print release. I got a proof copy the other day, and it was wonderful to hold the story in my hands.

Other, other news: While the holidays were happening, Breaking Point (I-Team #5) was released on audiobook by Tantor Audio. The entire series, minus the novellas, is now available in audiobook format. I’ve listened to the first four and loved what the talented Kaleo Griffith has done with the narration. Right now, I’m about an hour into Breaking Point and enjoying that as well.

So that’s the book news for the moment. A reissue for Ride the Fire just around the corner. Print versions of Skin Deep, Sweet Release, and Carnal Gift. The I-Team on audiobook. And Striking Distance is finally moving forward.

One last note: I won’t be online as much as I have been the past year. I just need to pull my attention inward and focus on Javier and Laura’s story. But I will pop in when I can, and when I do, I’ll share excerpts!