I have NEWS!!!

I actually announced this last week via Twitter, but wanted to make an official announcement here. Entangled Publishing has offered me publication for my MMA contemporary romance, Extreme Love. AND…wait for it…

They want two more MMA books. YAY!! I get to write more hot fighters! Woot!

I’ve talked about Extreme Love on here off and on. But for those who don’t know, this is the book of my heart. Writing this book helped me get through some very conflicting emotions I was having after I lost a ton of weight. Some people lose weight and embrace it, others carry a crapload of emotional baggage along with the weight and losing the weight just isn’t enough.

I was the latter. I had a hard time letting go of the image I’d seen in the mirror for almost twenty-five years. I still do in fact, but I’m much better than I was.

Here is the unofficial blurb I queried with:

New Body, New Clothes, New Men

Who knew losing weight would change everything?

Caitlyn Moore sure didn’t. After winning a lifetime battle of the bulge, life, as she knows it, turns topsy-turvy. Accepting her new body and wardrobe proved hard enough, but nothing prepared her for the men. Good God, the men. Used to the average Joe, she’s stunned when mega-hottie and extreme fighter, Dante Jones, storms into her life. At first, she pushes him away, refusing to encourage the attention of a cage fighter, a sport she finds barbaric and revolting. Then she learns Dante has a love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation. What better way to fine-tune her non-existent flirting skills than with a supremely masculine male who won’t stick around? But things don’t go as planned. Dante has no intention of being a practice dummy; he’s out for all or nothing. Now Caitlyn must accept Dante—violent career and all—or let him go.

Dante “Inferno” Jones came to Georgia for one thing: win the Welterweight Championship of Mixed Martial Arts. At a time when focus is crucial the last thing he needs is a distraction, but that’s exactly what walks into his life in the form of shy but gorgeous Caitlyn Moore. Not used to a woman turning him down, she becomes a challenge he can’t resist. But as time passes, the light-hearted pursuit shifts to a battle to win her heart, putting his upcoming fight in jeopardy. Faced with losing the biggest match of his career, Dante must ask himself if his extreme life also has room for Extreme Love.

I have been through the ringer with this book. Seriously. It’s gotten a lot of attention, but no firm holds. It’s also gotten lots of personalized rejections, which as writers, we do appreciate. It gives us something to focus on. While my rejections never came back because of one specific thing, it was also split 50/50 down the middle between Caitlyn and Dante, it did give me something to focus on. With each rejection, I rewrote, tweaked, added, and deleted. This IS the book of my heart, you know. I wasn’t giving up without fighting. And I’m so glad I didn’t.

Where the book stands today is something I’m immensely proud of. It still has everything I started with, but it’s so much stronger than the original version.

So my advice to you is: don’t give up. Rejections suck. We’ve all been there. We all know the tears and depression that follow one. But when that hurt fades, and it eventually will, get out that rejections and really see why they passed on the manuscript. I was able to take something from each one of mine and make my story better.

And now I’ve sold it, plus two more.

I get to write more hot fighters!! Yeah, I know I’ve already said that, but I love MMA, have a huge respect for the sport, and getting to write more books on men Caitlyn described as the elite of the elite, warriors in their own right, some of the most well-defined, tattooed eye-candy a girl could ask for, has me thrilled!

I can’t wait to share them with you.

Abby