Samhain Publishing

Midwinter Blues
By
N. J. Walters

Snow is piled up outside my door and the wind is howling. Winter doesn’t show any signs of letting up anytime soon. If you live in a cold climate, these are the endless days of winter, the time when you begin to wonder if spring is nothing more than a myth perpetuated by those who live in sunnier climes.

There are many folks out there who love winter, who enjoy getting out on their snowmobile or skis or snowshoes and embracing the winter majesty. They love the cold and the fresh powder on the ski slopes. Unfortunately, I’m not one of these people. I wish I was, but I’ve never particularly liked the cold and tend to stay indoors more this time of year. Of course, when everyone else is bitching about the summer heat I’m having a wonderful time basking in it. So there you go, different strokes for different folks.

Many people find it tough to cope this time of year. It even has a name—Seasonal Affective Disorder—SAD. The name says it all. People do get down this time of year. One thing you can do to help is to take vitamin D. It’s been proven that most people in the Northern USA and Canada suffer from vitamin D deficiency in the winter months due to lack of sunshine.

So I have my vitamin D. What else can I do to help with the winter doldrums? Exercise is good too. It gets all those lovely endorphins flowing and makes us happier. Walking is out as the sidewalks are currently buried beneath mounds of snow and, knowing the local city council like I do, I know I won’t see them for quite some time. Walking on the road is also out in this city. There is a distinctive lack of respect for pedestrians. But there is a local indoor track not far from here that is a possibility.

Or I could dig out my yoga mat—currently gathering dust in the closet—and try some stretches, maybe even lift a few light weights. Who knows, maybe I’ll get inspired later today to do just that.

Entertainment and hobbies are always a great way to add some fun to a snowy winter afternoon. And there is a stockpile of movies out on the shelf in my living room just waiting for such a day.

They say color can help your mood too. Maybe I should try wearing bright colors rather than the browns and grays I tend to favor. Of course, that would mean buying new clothes and I don’t enjoy shopping unless it’s at a bookstore.

Which leads me to one of my favorite ways to beat the winter blues—a good book. Thankfully, there are many great books just waiting for me to download them onto my Sony Reader whenever I am in the mood for reading. I do love to browse the bookstore, but if the weather is keeping me inside, I can click on the Sony Bookstore online and shop to my heart’s content. Life is good.

And if you’re looking for a paranormal werewolf tale to help banish your winter blues, be sure to check out Quinn’s Quest, the latest in my Legacy series from Samhain, releasing on February 21st. You can check it out at http://store.samhainpublishing.com/quinns-quest-p-6656.html.

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Website: http://www.njwalters.com
Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Nj-Walters/714113604

A Touch of Magick is now available in print from Samhain Publishing!

If you go casting love spells, be careful what you wish for.

Spells, Secrets and Seductions, Book 1

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/touch-magick-p-6510.html

Rhiannon Sparks admits she’s not a very good witch—she can’t even light a candle without a match—but she keeps trying. At least her talent for business has made her magick shop a huge success. Now if only there was even the faintest flicker in her nonexistent love life.

During a night of eating and drinking, she and her girlfriends cast a candle-magick spell for hot sex. All in good fun, of course. Except Rhiannon accidentally mixes up the words. Instead of a lover, she asks for true love.

Deputy Ryland Stone’s past keeps him firmly rooted in reality. Then he meets Rhiannon and sparks literally fly. One date leads to another, and then they’re practically setting the bedroom on fire…until she reveals the deal breaker.

Though love and magick have found Rhiannon at last, getting a handle on her newly unleashed power is the least of her problems. Unless Ryland accepts that magick exists, he will never accept her for who and what she is. 

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:

Website: http://www.njwalters.com

Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com

Newsletter Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Nj-Walters/714113604

As I sit here at my desk and ponder what to write, the winds are whipping up the trees outside, threatening to rip the leaves from them. Fog is rolling across the hills and rain is coming down. There is a tropical storm that is threatening to be a category 1 hurricane headed our way. But that is the way of things when the summer comes to a close and autumn descends upon us. Life is about change and it’s not always easy.

I know there are folks out there who love change and embrace it, willingly throwing themselves into the new and unknown. I admire them and wish I could be more like them. I’m more of a steady gal myself. I like routine, the regular everyday stuff that makes up a normal life. I’d rather stay home and read or watch a movie with my husband than travel or do extreme sports.

Which is what makes writing a strange career for me, for someone who really doesn’t like change. After all, the paycheck isn’t steady when you’re a writer, there are no retirement benefits and you never know if what you write will be contracted.

Even the writing itself is always changing from book to book. Different stories, different characters, each a challenge, which I love. So maybe I’m not so stuck in my ways as I think I am. If I can embrace this kind of change, I can embrace others. It’s good to know.

Not that there isn’t plenty to love about this job, because there is. I can work from home in my sweatpants, create stories that people will actually pay to read and I’ve met so many wonderful people and made many new friends since I started this career.

The three women in my Spells, Secrets and Seductions series all have to face change in their lives after a candle-magick spells goes wrong and instead of trying to attract a lover, they ask for a love that is true. All three of them get a lot more than they bargained on.

BLURB: Dreams of Seduction

She doesn’t believe in magic—or love. Until a spirit goes walking on the wild side…

Spells, Secrets and Seductions, Book 2

Maggie O’Neill goes along with her two best friends’ candle-magick spell to summon a lover only because, well, they are her BFFs. She doesn’t really believe in this stuff. Yet the aftermath of the spell leaves her strangely hot and bothered, and then the dreams of a man start—and not just any man. Jed Bearson. Pity, since she’s sworn off men for the foreseeable future.

Jed, part-time deputy and painter, doesn’t tell many people that he has the ability to let his spirit travel outside his body. One night, despite his self-imposed rule to never invade anyone’s privacy, he follows an irresistible pull to Maggie’s bedside. He’s astounded to find her crying out his name in private pleasure. After months of giving her space, maybe it’s time to approach her.

Maggie and Jed’s first touch is lightning hot—and their passion is a thunderclap of erotic pleasure. But when Jed reveals he’s a spiritwalker, Maggie’s reaction is like a curtain of cold rain descending between them. Leaving him wondering what she’s afraid of. Magic? Him? Or of following her heart? 

<a href="http://store.samhainpublishing.com/dreams-seduction-p-6415.html">Dreams of Seduction</a> is now available from <a href="http://samhainpublishing.com/">Samhain Publishing</a>.

 How do you feel about change?

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:

Website: http://www.njwalters.com

Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com

Newsletter Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Nj-Walters/714113604

Isaiah’s Haven is now available in PRINT from Samhain Publishing.

BLURB:

Legacy, Book 2

Isaiah Striker puts family first, the pack a distant second. Which is precisely the reason he’s in noisy, crowded Chicago instead of alone in his beloved woods. One look at the owner of Haven nightclub, however, and a simple favor for his brother turns into something else entirely.

Meredith Cross holds her small pack together with sheer determination. After years on the run, they hide in the glare of the city’s nightlife. Isaiah may heat her blood, but she can’t afford to risk the lives of the outcast half-breeds in her care. Once exposed, every bounty hunter and werewolf purist in smelling distance will hunt them down.

But when their sexual attraction spirals out of control, a moment’s distraction is all it takes to lead danger right to Meredith’s door. For Meredith there’s only one choice: her pack.

But Isaiah knows his mate when he sees her. And he’s not giving up without a fight.

Product Warnings:
This book contains hot sex, a jazzy nightclub, sexy werewolves, rogue werewolves, nasty bounty hunters, a mysterious vampire, and did I mention hot sex?

Check it out at http://store.samhainpublishing.com/isaiahs-haven-p-6445.html

Check out all my books at http://www.njwalters.com

A Day in the Life By N. J. Walters

As I sit in my desk chair in the corner of the living room trying to decide what to write for this blog, the rain is pelting the world outside my window. It’s windy, so the rain is falling at an angle, driving it hard toward anyone unlucky enough to have to go outside.

I am home. I don’t have to go anywhere. Such is the life of a writer.

My husband is off at work and I am home alone. I just finished writing almost thirteen pages. A productive morning. Now it’s time to take care of other writerly concerns such as this blog post.

I envy those writers who can pluck a detail from their personal life and spin a funny, insightful yarn that will both delight and inform. Unfortunately, that kind of writing doesn’t come easy to me. Probably because I’m an intensely private person. Always have been and probably always will be. I’m also boring. No, truly I am. My days have a rhythm to them that varies little.

Read More

The Thanksgiving weekend is in full swing. By now, many of you have feasted on turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, stuffing and other goodies. You may even have braved the Black Friday sales. (Better you than me.) But that’s not what this holiday is about. It’s about the simple act of giving thanks.

With the bad economy and folks losing their jobs and, in some cases, their homes, it can be difficult to find a reason to give thanks this year. I understand that completely. I’ve been up and down over the years, but I’ve always come out okay thanks to hard work and the help of family and friends. We’re lucky to live where we do. If you don’t have any family to help you there are agencies and church groups out there that are ready and more than willing to help. All you have to do is ask.

That aside, there are a million reasons to be thankful. First, and foremost, is being alive. As long as there is life there is hope. The act of waking up every morning is one that I am thankful for every day. After my last birthday, I am older now than my father was when he died. He never got the extra days I’m getting. It’s only now I understand just how truly young he was when he died after a three-year battle with cancer.

I’m relatively healthy. Sure I’m a little slower and creakier than I used to be, but I’m still in great health. I’m thankful for that. I’m grateful for my loving husband and my family, even though they drive me nuts sometimes. I’m sure I drive them equally as crazy. Okay, maybe not quite as much, but still. lol

I’m thankful for fresh sheets on the bed, clean towels, running water, heat, a stove to cook on, food in the cupboards, fresh air to breath, the fact that I live in a democracy. Those are all huge things.

I’m grateful for the little things too, like books, hot chocolate, fluffy pillows, a cozy throw blanket, puppies and kittens, mittens in the winter, flowers, trees, peppermint tea, computers, fancy earrings, beaches…the list is endless.

I’m also extremely thankful that I can make a living doing something I love. Not everyone has that luxury. For years I worked in retail and I enjoyed it, but this is so much better. I love creating something from nothing. Putting letters on a page until they become words, until the words become sentences, the sentences paragraphs, followed by chapters and finally a book. It’s a magical process that never fails to amaze and astound me. And I have all you readers to thank for that.

So, no matter where you are or what your circumstances, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. May you find things in your life to be thankful for and may this next year be your best one yet!

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Check out all my books at http://www.njwalters.com
http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/ (newsletter group)

Alexandra’s Legacy, the first book in my werewolf/paranormal Legacy series, is now available in PRINT from Samhain Publishing!

The truth will set her free…or get her killed.

Blurb:

Alexandra Riley’s day starts out like any other in her normal, predictable world. Then a tall, dark stranger bursts into her father’s garage and shatters the illusion. In one shocking moment, she discovers why she’s been feeling hot, restless—she’s the half-breed daughter of a legendary werewolf and is a much-sought-after prize.

Joshua Striker, enforcer in charge of protecting the alphas of the Wolf Creek pack, has come to take Alex home. Nothing more, nothing less. From the first moment he sees her, she becomes the one thing he can’t afford—a distraction from his duty. A weakness he doesn’t want—but can’t resist needing.

If only keeping her safe was as simple as fending off males on the hunt for a mate. Through city streets to the mountains of North Carolina, Alex and Joshua have to evade those who don’t want their pure bloodlines tainted with human DNA, as well as bounty hunters who think the only good werewolf is a dead one.

What Joshua and Alex can’t outrun is the passion that flares between them—or the choice Alex must eventually face. Whether to claim her inner wolf, or forfeit her chance to claim Joshua as her own.

Warning: This book contains sexy werewolves, rogue werewolves, nasty bounty hunters, a mysterious vampire and plenty of hot sexual interludes that will raise your blood pressure.

Buy from MB&M

Check out all my books

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

I love being a writer, spending my days in my head with incredible characters and fanciful stories of love and redemption. After all, what other job pays you to devote your waking and sleeping hours to werewolves, vampires, hunky handymen and heroic cops and firemen.

But no matter how much I love my job, sometimes you can get enough of a good thing. Being a working writer means I work at home…which means I’m always working. If I’m not actually tapping away at the keyboard on a new book, I’m writing synopses and blurbs, doing edits, filling out cover art forms, promoting, chatting on my yahoo groups, working on my newsletter or updating my website. It’s never-ending.

Not that I don’t enjoy it, because I do. I’ve learned so much about myself and the craft of writing over the past six years. I don’t plan to ever stop writing. But it’s been a long six years. Other than to spend a few days with family here and there, I haven’t taken a vacation. A day here and a day there, but never a patch of time just for myself.

So, hubby and I are taking off for five days. We plan to do some driving around, spend some time at the beach and the rest of it simply relaxing. Will I be able to resist checking email? Probably not. But I’m determined to put work out of my head for as much as possible for those five days.

I need the mental break. I’m the type of writer who can only work on one book at time, but the day after I finish one book, I’m starting the next. I don’t like having downtime in-between. But I need some this time.

My schedule has been hectic lately. I’ve spent the last two months hopping from book to book in various stages of editing and rewrites. No less than seven books have filled my poor brain in those two months. Almost all my work has been on books in progress and not on anything new.

Now that most of the edits and rewrites are done, I’m hoping to come back from my vacation rested and rearing to get back at my latest work-in-progress. That’s what I love most about being a writer—the thrill of the new story. It’s incredibly energizing to see a new book unfolding. Nothing better.

So, while my blog post is here, I am not. Picture me sitting on a beach with the wind in my hair and a cold drink in my hand. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and this will actually happen. Either way, I’m going to be enjoying myself.

Hope you take some time to do the same this summer!

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

http://www.njwalters.com
http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/ (newsletter group)

I’m thrilled to announce that Jamesville Affairs is now available from Samhain Publishing. This anthology contains A Legal Affair and Past Promises, books 5 & 7 of the Jamesville series.

The women are strong, the men are hot…and passions simmer just below the surface.

Welcome to Jamesville, Maine, a small town with a big heart. Where folks come looking for a fresh start—and sometimes find much more than they bargained for.

A Legal Affair
It’s not easy for Alicia Flint to even date, much less take a lover. As a lawyer, her livelihood depends on her spotless reputation. A chance encounter with a stranger at a friend’s wedding tempts her to do something she’s never done before—have a red-hot, one-night stand. The guy will be gone tomorrow; no one need ever know her delicious little secret. The only problem is that Gill Baron is in Jamesville to stay.

Past Promises
Linda Fletcher’s newly opened antiques business is her declaration of independence from her powerful and manipulative family. She’s never considered herself the no-strings-affair type, but the chemistry between her and her newly hired handyman, Levi Mann, is too intense to ignore. Moving to Jamesville was a bold step, so what’s the harm in taking one more—into his arms?

Check it out at http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/p-jamesville-affairs

Check out my website at http://www.njwalters.com

Unless you’re a vampire, you’re probably not too fond of the short days this time of year. It’s February, the time of year where winter has you firmly in her icy grip. The excitement of the Christmas holiday seems like naught but a memory and spring is still far out of reach.

What do you do to get through these dark weeks?

It’s all too easy to burrow under a fleecy blanket on the corner of the sofa and clutch the television remote control to your chest. A bowl of snacks and a book and you’re all set. If we’re honest with ourselves, that’s what most of us do. In my case, add in a cold and rainy fall and I’ve been curled up on the end of my sofa for a few months now.

It’s time for a change.

The days are getting a little longer every week. It’s slight, but it’s there. It’s time to take advantage of those long, cold days and make a change. For me, that means pushing myself to start working out again. Over the past six months, physical activity has fallen by the wayside. Considering that my job entails sitting at a keyboard, that means a few pounds have managed to sneak in there. But there is plenty of time to do something about that before spring arrives with it’s warmer weather and more revealing clothing.

Sure, I’ll continue to curl up with a good book. After all, what’s life without a good book? And I’ll be watching the winter Olympics on television later this month. But there will be an hour or so every day when, instead of sitting, I’m going to push myself to dig out my yoga DVDs and do those pushups and stomach crunches.

Wish me luck.

I hope you take advantage of these long, dark days of winter and find something special to do. Whether it’s working out, starting a new hobby, trying a few new recipes or all of the above. Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy yourself and make the most of this quieter time of year.

Oh, and if you need a suggestion for a good book, you could check out Alexandra’s Legacy, my new werewolf book from Samhain Publishing. I guarantee it will warm up any cold night.

N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
http://www.njwalters.com
http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/ (newsletter group)