If you entered the previous giveaway and didn't win, here's your chance!  I will be giving away three Kindle copies of The Vampire's Redemption.  The only thing you have to do to enter this giveaway is share the link below on Twitter and then enter your real name, Twitter name and e-mail address at the bottom of this post.  Good luck!

The Vampire's Redemption:  Book Three of the Undead in Brown County Series <------  Tweet this!

The way things are going right now, the writing may be done today.  The last of the editing and tweaking will be tomorrow.  Tomorrow night, (if everything goes according to plan) I will upload the final draft to Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Hopefully, that means that the Vampire's Redemption will be available by the time everybody gets done watching Vampire Diaries on Thursday night.  I'm crossing my fingers.

I'm finishing up the last few chapters, peeps.  Shouldn't be too long now!  

There are a lot of questions that will answered in this book.  Michael's history with the Council will be explained in more detail.  We will meet several more members of the Council (you will be surprised).  There is also a scene between Michael and Sarah that many of you have been waiting for since the first book came out.  Also, this WILL NOT be the last book in the series.  There will probably be one or two more after this one.

The writing for Redemption should be finished up in a day or two, then I'll do a final edit and get it out on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  The paperback will take a little more time than that.  I hope it ends up being worth the wait for everybody!

Thank you again to all the new readers!  I really do love you guys and look forward to hearing what you think about The Vampire's Redemption!

P.S.  Mystery at Shadow Lake by B.L. Hoffman is now available as a paperback!  Go get a copy!

I've got to apologize to everybody again for not being more on the ball with this release date.  I have not been a very productive writer over the last few weeks (or months).  Sometimes it gets hard for me to stay in my writing mode.  Like most of you, I've got a family whose needs come before everything else.  But there are also a lot of times when I have just chosen not to work on the book.  I know.  I should be writing as much as I possibly can.  But getting into Sarah's head and talking about how she's feeling isn't always a treat for me.  A lot of what Sarah feels is very personal to me, so sometimes I back away from the book to give myself some time to emotionally cool down and focus on other things.

However, I am determined to get Redemption finished.  Not just for you guys, but also for me.  This book is a big change of direction for Sarah.  Getting drawn into that world and pushing through those feelings that she has sometimes can be difficult for me.

So here's the deal.  I'm about 29,000 words into the book.  My original goal with this one was to get to 40,000 words by Christmas.  Obviously, I missed that by a mile.  And unfortunately, it won't be ready by January 15th either.  So I'm extending the release date by two more weeks.

Here's the good news.  The moment it goes live on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, I will be hosting a giveaway on this blog.  I will be giving away ten copies of the e-book.  I will also be putting all three books into a boxed set, which will be available for $4.99 for a limited time.

RELEASE DATE FOR THE VAMPIRE'S REDEMPTION IS JANUARY 28TH, 2012.

Sometimes you have to wait awhile to get what you want.  I've been watching The Vampire Diaries since the very first episode.  Even before I cracked open a book by L.J. Smith (kind of sad, I know).  It only took three or four episodes before I became a huge Delena supporter.  Again, it's kind of sad.  But I won't apologize for it.  

Finally, after three and half seasons of waiting for the big moment.... IT HAPPENED!  I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.  And guess what?  When these things happen, it inspires me!  When a writer gets inspired, things get written.  No, I don't copy from the show.  And if you've read my books and are a fan of the Vampire Diaries show, you probably already know that.  But tonight was a great example of how exciting and addicting it can be to see a vampire getting close to a human.  

And that is the exact thing that sparked my imagination and made me want to write the Vampire's Warden.  So, fellow Delena fans, rejoice!  Our time has finally come!  Now that I've gushed appropriately about my guilty pleasure, let me update you on what's happening with Redemption.

The official release date (as of right now) is January 15th.  I will not say that it will definitely be done by then, but that is my plan right now.  I still have a lot to write.  And after that, there are lot of things I have to do on my end to get it up on Amazon and B&N.  Right now, I don't have anybody helping me with the extra stuff.

Thanks again to everybody who has left notes on the blog and all the new readers!  I can't really express how wonderful it is to know that so many people are reading my books and enjoying them.  So thank you so much.  You all have made my dream come true. 

There are so many reasons that I love this picture.  It reminds me of Sarah and Messenger, of course...  But it also represents a kind of freedom and courage that makes life worth living.  

Some of the things that Sarah has experienced come directly from the pages of my life.  One of them is her fear of riding.  Yes, I get scared being up on a horse.  But I love being around them and really want to ride.  I want to do what the girl in this picture is doing.  In three days, I will be trying it again.  

When somebody gives up fear in one part of their life, sometimes it can move them to be more fearless in other pursuits.  That is my hope.  When I get up on that horse and urge it forward, I hope to find some extra strength within myself that I forgot was there.  I also hope that it gives new life to my writing.  

I've already begun to feel something change.  In the last few days, as I've been working on Redemption there have been moments when I started to doubt the quality of what I'd written.  But instead of throwing up my hands and walking away from the computer, I threw aside my misgivings and wrote from the heart.  Hopefully, what you will read in The Vampire's Redemption will reflect a new courage.  A new kind of hope.

The Vampire's Warden was my first true effort at writing a book.  Even though I've been dreaming up stories about girls and horses since I was ten, it took until I was forty to actually make it happen.  I know it also reads like a first book.  My husband and I have discussed the possibility of me rewriting Warden.  The problem is that I'm far too eager to explain who I am and what I've been through.  Warden is where it started.  It may not win any awards, but it was a good start.

With Redemption, I want to drag my readers into the story and "wow" them.  I want them to feel what Sarah feels and see what she sees.  I want them to know that my writing is improving and that I'm trying to reach into the very soul of this story in order to tell it.  I intend to do my very best.

I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday and a very happy New Year!

“No.  Don’t you dare.  I want you to look at my face.”  He growled.

Surprised and distracted by his tone, I did exactly that.  The moment I looked, his hands left my arms and settled firmly on my hips, dragging me against him so I could feel every hard muscle of him from his chest down to his thighs.  The length of his erection pressed against my belly and sent shivers through my every limb.

“You want this as much as I do.  It scares the shit out of you, and I get that.  But I’m afraid too, Sarah.  The two of us have been thrown together in this vampire thing without asking for it.  If I fall for you, I’m giving them what they want.”

“It doesn’t matter what they want.”  I breathed.
Copyright © 2011 by Stephanie J. Wright

The fear of falling didn’t go away when Dad brought Messenger home.  I loved her dearly.  But her energy was twice as frightening to me as Lenny’s.  She was ten years younger than he was and black as coal all over.  She had an amazing mane that draped down to her shoulders and gleamed like the night sky.  As stunningly beautiful as she was, I still couldn’t gather the courage I needed to climb up onto her back.

To know that Jackson had made that leap before me made me feel sad instead of angry.  Nelly let me think it over instead of calling me on it.  It was one of the many things I appreciated about her.  But before I left the room, she did say something that caught me by surprise.

“That boy is the real deal, Sarah.”

“What do you mean?”

She had that look on her face that she sometimes got when she was absolutely positive about her opinion.  From experience, I knew to take it seriously.  She’d had a bad feeling about Trevor Kincaid when she first met him.  And that time, her instincts had been right on the nose.

Her eyes were twinkling, “He has a place here.  He was meant to come here.  You’ll see what I mean before long.”

Copyright © 2011 by Stephanie J. Wright