In sunny California!

Our youngest graduates from college tomorrow and our oldest son is getting married in two weeks, so dh and I are in Sunny California for a 3 week visit. It's beautiful out here, especially after enduring weeks of non-stop rain back home.

We took a back-country trip on the way out so Tony could get some new pictures. Amazing scenery, book research (yay me!), and time away from the constant rejection known as sales work...this trip couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

I miss my dogs, but I am getting reports from the family members who are taking care of things back home, so hopefully my fur babies will survive the separation without too much trauma.

Got this in my email today...

The Editor's Choice winner will be posted this weekend at http://manicreaders.com/

Stay tuned....

Manic Readers Contest voting open

I have an entry up on the Manic Reader's contest site. The top 2 entries each week get read by a NAL editor. If you have a few minutes, please go vote! My entry is number 3. Once you've read and voted for your favorite 2 entries, please come back and let me know what you think about mine--good, bad, or ugly. It's the black moment scene in the book.

One set of taxes done!

Finally got my own taxes finished and sent off. I love Turbo Tax! Now I just have to do my youngest's taxes and help the youngest son with his.

Got my first royalty statement (and check. Yay!) Not as much as I'd hoped, but way more than I expected. LOL.

Just one more week of "volunteer" work (where it costs you almost as much in gas as you make on the job). Working for commission only sucks in this economy. And having people treat you like you're trying to rob them when you're only trying to make a living sucks even worse. But starting next week, we'll be in a place where we might actually not only make enough to pay the bills, we might even make enough to retire some of this mountain of debt. Once that's done we might be able to help the two kids who were laid off from their jobs recently and the one who still hasn't found a job and maybe even the one who's still in college.

And then there's that lottery ticket I bought yesterday....

Now What?

I've finished rewriting the new book. It isn't a sexy book, so Red Sage isn't an option. It's barely even a romance, though there are some relationships forming. But there's no sex in it. It's somewhat suspense, somewhat adventure, somewhat fantasy. It doesn't fit in any neat pigeonholes, so I have no idea even how to go about querying on it. I can't figure out how to describe it. The characters are mostly Native American, but it's contemporary, not historical. They have some psychic powers, they're members of a special super-secret private black ops team who spend their time shutting down illegal military operations.

I may have to publish this one myself on Amazon for the Kindle.

Haven't Posted in Months

My DH and I have been on the road for weeks now. We haven't been home in five weeks, and I miss my dogs something awful. Right now we're in California, near LA. I love the weather, but don't much like the city. Outlying areas are okay, but the traffic is non-stop and everything costs nearly double what it does at home. I'll be so glad to head towards home this weekend.

Wonder if my dogs miss me as much as I miss them?

While we're here, I'm doing research on a book I wrote last year but never got back to it to rewrite. I'm going to make that priority number one when I get home--get that book rewritten and start sending out queries. At least now I have a good feel for the area and some pictures for inspiration--like the ones below.

4 Angel Review

You can read the full review at http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/2008/September/Dawnie-DoubleExposure.htm

"Lingerie, lust, and one hot male model make for an enjoyable story. Lacy is a character that is easy to identify with. She is strong, confident, and naughty. She knows her mind and sticks with her choices. Her sexual inventiveness is downright outrageous. Gabe is sexy, strong, and has a hint of mystery about him. The sexual chemistry is combustible. The couple faces conflicts that add depth to the story. Plenty of fun with a great amount humor, the story keeps the reader interested. Ms. Scott has a knack for telling a story. I look forward to reading more by this talented author."

Thanks, Dawnie, for the great review!

Press Release update

I've seen the press release several places online so far, but the most exciting was to see it in the Yahoo Financial News! Have any of you seen it yet, other than here?

Still no reviews. Might have to change the contest if some don't start showing up soon.

This has really been a tough week at work. I have to wonder how some people live with themselves, considering how they treat others. But you have to let it roll off and keep on working or you'll go crazy.

Contest! Win a copy of Double Exposure.

I've been trying to come up with a contest. Since I've looked high and low all over the web and can't find a review of Double Exposure, I'll give a PDF ARC of the book to the first person who finds--or posts--a review for Double Exposure and sends me a link to the review.

Tori

Press Release

My editor is brilliant. She just sent out the following press release and I'm excited to see what kind of response and exposure we get from it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

E-Books Provide Hidden Benefits to Readers
Says Bible Belt Author of Erotic Romances

Author Offers Insight into Why Romance Readers Are Secretly Flocking to E-Books

“Being from a small town in the Bible belt, I appreciate the fact that Red Sage e-books let my readers shop in total privacy without worrying about who might find out what they're reading."

“I can buy 4 e-books for what I would spend on gas alone. "

In DOUBLE EXPOSURE (Red Sage Publishing, on sale August 1, 2008), the newest short novel in the Red Sage Presents line of hit e-books, newcomer Tori Scott writes about a romantic couple who expose their skin for a lingerie catalog photo shoot even while they must struggle to hide their identities. This delicate balance between exposure and secrecy is familiar to romance writers and readers alike.
In a candid interview, the Golden Heart-nominated Texas author talks about her inspiration for DOUBLE EXPOSURE and the compelling reasons that make erotic romance e-books an underground success:

Tori, you are releasing a short contemporary erotic romance novel that touches upon an important issue in many readers’ lives: the tension between private behavior and public opinion. Can you draw a correlation between your characters, your readers, and you?

There's certainly a parallel here between the fictional and real worlds. The heroine in DOUBLE EXPOSURE, Lacy Fitzgerald, is being pressured to give up her career aspirations and be a “good girl,” to enter a loveless marriage and become a model wife and mother. Instead, Lacy becomes another kind of model -- a lingerie model for her new, high-end lingerie design business. Even though it’s a perfectly respectable business, she is mocked and scorned by many people who should be cheering for her success, and her model partner, hero Gabe Wallace, lies about his identity so that people in their Texas town won’t know that he’s posing for pictures in his briefs. Even though most people wear undergarments, Lacy and Gabe must struggle to come to terms with public prejudice against lingerie.

Writing and reading erotic romance can draw a similar response from people. This is a huge business with a vast readership, yet readers have been complaining about romance covers for decades because they don’t want the public to see them carrying one of “those books.”

E-books help us get around that problem, and that’s probably one of the reasons that romance e-books sales estimates claim about half of the overall e-books market. I'm excited about Red Sage's new e-book program because I'm an avid online shopper. I prefer to download my books rather than driving thirty miles to the nearest bookstore where I have to search for the book I want, then wait in line, book in hand, to buy it. I can buy four books for what I would spend on gas alone, and nobody knows what I’ve bought.

I've loved Red Sage books since I got my hands on my first Secrets volume at a writers’ conference. Being one of Red Sage's authors is a dream come true. And being from a small town in the Bible belt, I appreciate the fact that Red Sage ebooks let my readers shop in total privacy without worrying about who might find out what they're reading.

About Red Sage Publishing
Before there were e-books, before there was something labeled "erotic romance," there was Red Sage. The first Secrets anthology was released in 1995 and caught on with readers immediately. It's still in print to this day, as are all the other Secrets volumes released since then. The staying power of these anthologies is a testament to their quality.

In 2007, Red Sage launched Red Sage Presents, a new line of e-books destined for the same level of success as the Secrets volumes. Available at its proprietary website and other e-book distribution outlets, these stories have proven to be every bit as popular as the print books. Within weeks of their availability at Fictionwise, Red Sage presents authors had captured the number one spot in their category and had placed two additional titles in the top ten, with several more climbing the charts each week.

About Author Tori Scott
Tori Scott has always loved to read, especially anything with even a hint of romance. Over the years, Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames gave way to Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts, and Tori was hooked on romance. Her husband, a professional photographer, has given Tori plenty of inspiration for her stories, and now enjoys helping her "research." She writes as they drive from one Bible belt shooting location to another.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE
By Tori Scott
Red Sage Presents, E-Books Division of Red Sage Publishing
ISBN 9781603102063
$5.95
ON SALE 8/01/08
www.eRedSage.com

IT'S OUT!!!!!

Two days early, but Double Exposure is now available. I'll post a contest in the next day or two. In the meantime, go check out the page devoted to my very own book, would you? Please? Just click the post title above.

Countdown to Release Date!

10 Days to the release of Double Exposure from Red Sage. The cover is on the Coming Soon page. It's listed in the upcoming releases on Fiction Wise. Am I excited? Oh yeah. Big time. I'd love to blow the sales records out of the water, but what has me terrified is waiting to get that first review...

Stay tuned.

Free Book!

From July 22nd through August 5th, you can read the entire, uncut text of THE MARK by Jason Pinter online--for free! Just go to www.jasonpinter.com and click on the link. Hope you enjoy!

Conference time again

Someone just reminded me the RWA National Conference is once again less than a month away, and I won't be there--again. I haven't made it to a National conference since Dallas in 2004. I've lost all the momentum I had with editors and agents, most of the contacts with my fellow writers. But in the business we're in now, if you have the time, it means you aren't working so you don't have the money. And with the conference in San Francisco this year, that means it's expensive. Airfare, hotel, meals, registration--we're talking about $2000 or so to attend. Still, it breaks my heart that I won't be there this time. My first book is about to debut, which means I'd be eligible for my first-ever publisher party. Might even have been able to get my books in time for my first-ever book signing. Would have been my first National to attend as a published author.

Yes, I'm having a great big pity party over this one....

Meeting a guy from online...

Not that kind of meet. But my husband and I met one of my online writer friends and his wife for dinner. They were in town for a wedding, so we drove over and met them at the Texas Roadhouse. We had a great meal, a great time, and it was really nice to meet Josh Lockwood face to face. Check out his books at www.moonlitromance.com.

Away too long and sad news.....

My husband and I have been on the road all but three weeks so far this year. We spent 5 wonderful weeks in Florida, then to places all over Texas and to Shreveport, LA. I'm in West Texas now, on my own this time. I got to visit with fellow Noodler Stef Feagan last week, which was a rare treat.

Just a few weeks now until Double Exposure will be available on www.eredsage.com. I saw my cover in a two page ad in Romantic Times, so I had to pick up a copy of the magazine. It's in the July issue.

I'm getting ready to head out for the long drive home. Haven't seen my husband for ten days, so I'm ready to get back there. But he called me early this morning with the news that Willie, my 11 year old Great Pyrenees, had passed away. I've had Willie since he was 6 weeks old, and I knew he was close to going, but I hoped he'd wait until after I got home. It just breaks my heart. He has a mate, Dollie, and they've been together their entire lives. I'm worried about her. Tony said she's been standing guard over Willie's body, but somehow he has to get in the pen and move Willie so he can bury him. That won't be an easy task because Willie weighed 150 pounds.

I'm going to miss you, Willie. I'm going to miss you licking my face while I try to clean out the water bowls. I'm going to miss you looking up at me with those big brown eyes, so full of love and welcome. I hope you're now running free, free of pain, in a green field with birds to chase and ponds to laze around in. I love you, big guy.



Willie as a puppy


Willie doing his favorite thing...



Willie and Dollie

On the Road--Yet again

This time we're in south Florida for at least three weeks, maybe more. Am I complaining? Heck no! It's gorgeous! The weather is absolutely perfect, the scenery is beautiful, the beach just blocks away. If you have to work, it doesn't get much better than this.

More pictures posted on Tony's blog at http://pcsphotography.blogspot.com/

Oh my God. I have a cover!

My editor just emailed my cover for Double Exposure for my approval.

Do I approve? Are you kidding me? It's fantastic! Perfect.

Red Sage does know how to do covers right, don't they? And at this point we're looking at an August release.

Still in the Rio Grande valley, selling pictures the dh is taking. But after 3 weeks, I'm more than ready to head for home.

On the Road Again

Heading out for another photography trip, this time to South Texas. Since I've never been there, it will be a new experience, and hopefully a new setting for a book.

We had a good Christmas this year, with most of the kids home. It was a little different in that we didn't go to my mother-in-law's for the first time in 35 years, but we survived the change. Didn't like it much, but we survived.

Found out my book will most likely be released in July. I'm excited about that. I wish I could afford to go to San Francisco so I could participate in the booksigning--that's something I've looked forward to for years, but unless I make a ton of money in the next couple of months, that won't be happening.

Be sure to pop over to the Wet Noodle Posse blog and check out all the exciting happenings going on there. They've started a several month series on writing--all the how-to's you've always wanted to know about.

Here's a bit of info...

You can enter to win Barnes and Noble.com gift certificates by posting this news release on your blog or forwarding to a chapter/group e-mail loop or newsletter. To be eligible, e-mail the particulars of your forward/post to jillmonroe @ cox.net (no spaces) and post no later than January 20, 2008. A random drawing will determine the winner(s) of the gift certificates.



The Wet Noodle Posse had such a great time with our month of Golden Heart prep that we're giving away writing tips...one month at a time. In addition to book and critique giveaways, join Q&A sessions and read guest blogs from bestselling writers like Sherrilyn Kenyon and Gena Showalter. Check out our line-up of topics! January-Getting Started (goals, choosing story idea, focus, etc.) February-Character Development (names, physical descriptions, backstory, etc.) March-Plotting April - Conflict May-Research June-Business side of Writing (market, marketing, promotion, etiquette) July-Prepping for Conference (both for national and smaller conferences) August-Inspiration (for stories and for keeping yourself going) September-Writer Health (physical and mental) October-GH Preparation November-Writing Challenges (NaNo, BIAW, turning off the internal editor, etc.) December-Editing/Revisions Get great information in a fun community! Visit http://wetnoodleposse.blogspot.com

First book-length sale!

Started to label this post first sale, but actually my first sale was the Christmas story to Woman's World, so this is my first book sale. I sold to Red Sage! The book is tentatively titled Double Exposure. It used to be titled Satin and Steel. It's the one Blaze almost bought, the one that won the Golden Gateway contest a few years ago. The one that just never would let go. I loved that book and couldn't give up on it. So glad I didn't.

Many thanks to Theresa, my new editor, and Alexandria, my new publisher. I'm looking forward to lots of good times ahead.

Catching Up

I've been gone for weeks, on the road helping the dh with the photography stuff. I'll be back in a bit to catch up with where we've been and what we've been up to. This post is just to keep my blogger account open so they don't delete me.

Check back tonight for an update.

Headed for Georgia

We've been asked to drive to Georgia to take pictures. Of course, we said yes! Who can resist an all-expenses paid trip out of town with nearly double our normal rate of pay, a per-diem for meals, an extra .10 a mile for gas (and over 1600 miles, that adds up!) We're excited. My dogs won't be, however, when they realize they're on their own.

Okay, not exactly. They'll have company. It just won't be me. They worry when I'm gone, when I come home after dark, etc. They freak out if I go outside after midnight.

I'm really afraid I'll come home to find my Great Pyrenees male, Willie, has passed. He's 10 years old, can barely get around, and wheezes something awful when he breathes. This heat is really hard on him. And if/when he dies, the female, Dollie, will freak. They've been together since she was 6 months old and Willie was 8 weeks old. I may end up having to put her down.

I'm ready to not own animals anymore. It's too hard to watch them die. We sold the cows (which nearly broke my heart, since I'd hand raised most of them) and the chickens. So the cat and the dogs are all we have left.

But with this job, we'll have opportunities to travel, and that's hard to do when you have furry friends depending on you. I'd probably give the two younger dogs away if I could, but I've had them since they were puppies. How do you give away your babies?

Has anyone ever adopted an older dog? How do they handle a new home and family? Do they miss the old ones?

Long time gone

We've been super busy, learning the photograpy biz, working 12 hour days, driving at least 2-3 of those hours. I'm exhausted. We're not making the money we'd hoped to, either, but hopefully that's a temporary situation while we're learning.

I did manage to cut a 400 page ms down to 200 pages at an editor's request and got it edited and sent off. Now I'm back in the waiting game. In the meantime, I got my first fan mail! A lady read The Christmas Wish, my Woman's World romance story from Dec. 2005 and loved it. Yay! That made my day.

Today is my youngest daughter's birthday. She's now 20, so I'm no longer the mother of a teenager. Last time we didn't have a teenager in the family was in 1989. So I can now say my kids are all grown, they're all beautiful/handsome, and they're smart and talented. Good kids. What more could a mother ask for?

Golden Heart and Rita Winners

The winners of this year's Romance Writers of America Golden Heart and Rita Awards have been posted at the RWA website. (click on link above)

I've very excited for two friends, Trish Milburn of the Wet Noodle Posse and my Aussie friend Bronwyn Clarke, who both won Golden Hearts tonight.

CONGRATULATIONS LADIES!!!!!!!!!

RWA National

It's killing me that I won't get to attend National again this year. And it's within easy driving distance! But the new job requires my presence at training (the nerve!), my daughter needs help at her place on the weekend, and we have one last concrete job to pour so we can survive until the first paycheck from the new job.

So if you're going to National, drink a Cosmo for me, tell the editors and agents I said hi, and seek out the Wet Noodle Posse ladies and give them a hug from me.

If you're looking for someplace to eat besides the over-priced hotel restaurants, some of my favorite restaurants in or near downtown that serve great food for reasonable prices include El Fenix on McKinney Ave,(best Tex-Mex ever), Spaghetti Warehouse, Olive Garden, and Joe's Crab Shack (they have great coconut shrimp) in the West End.

I will be at the hotel Sunday morning, the 15th, to meet some people, so if you see me, stop and say hello.






The Wet Noodle Posse at the Awards, Dallas 2004

Where I've been...and Father's Day

Thought this map thing I found on Trish Milburn's blog (click blog title for link) was pretty cool. I can see that there are a few more places I need to visit before I die. And that's just here in the states.

We spent three weeks in Mexico one year, too. Two weeks in Vera Cruz, and a week travelling back and forth in a motorhome caravan. It was an absolute blast.

Most of these states were visited when I was a kid, when my Dad worked for Sperry Gyroscope. We moved at least once a year, usually from one coast to the other, so I got to see a lot of the country. I can remember singing with my mom, dad, and sister (that was before she became such a pain in the ass) as we drove along lonely highways late at night. In those days, you could drive a hundred miles or more and never see another car. (No, this wasn't in the thirties! It was the sixties.) Dad couldn't carry a note in a bucket, but that never stopped him from belting out "Shine on Silver Moon" or any of those other old songs.

That's probably one of my best memories of childhood, singing with my dad. I still miss him every damned day. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

PIcture Day

Decided to post some pics since my brain won't come up with anything to write. These photos were taken by my husband, an amateur photographer who would really like to go pro.

This one is from a bush in my back yard.







This is my 10 year old Great Pyrenees, Willie, enjoying the pond.








Ducks on my mother-in-law's pond.

Honoring Those Who Have Fallen

My father-in-law, Archie Payne 1923-2005















My father, Charles Maeker 1927-1998




These pictures are indicative of where my thoughts are today...

I don't personally know anyone who died while in service to our country, but I have been priviledged to know many who served our country with honor--some still living, some having passed on. My oldest daughter served in the Coast Guard, my father was a Merchant Marine during World War II, my father-in-law was in an Army tank division during that same time. A friend's husband served in Vietnam and my brother-in-law was a Sea Bee. My nephew served time in the Navy and is thinking about signing back up. I have a number of friends whose children are in Iraq or who are preparing to return.

My prayers today are thanks to those who protect us, prayers for safety to those fighting wars overseas, and prayers for our leaders to find a way out of this war that is costing so many young lives.

My wish for those serving is that our government would realize how great the sacrifices are that you make, and that your families make. I think it's appalling that one soldier I know of has to sell his truck to be able to come home to see his four year old son before he deploys back to Iraq. I think it's appalling that our soldiers don't have enough ammunition, don't have proper safety equipment, often don't have enough food. That their families are many times destitute because their pay for fighting is so much lower than their civilian pay was.

The least we can do, as Americans, is say thank you. Send a card to a soldier today. And if you can, include a $20 bill, a phone card, a book--something to let them know you care.

We've quit celebrating a lot of holidays around our house, at least in the sense of not wasting money on gifts for what we call "Hallmark Holidays." I don't want my kids wasting their hard-earned money on presents just because someone somewhere decided this should be a gift-buying day. For the last two weeks we've been inundated with commercials on television implying that husbands and kids should be spending thousands of dollars at Zales buying diamond necklaces and earrings for Mom, or buying iPods or cellphones at Best Buy, clothes or dishes at Marshall's, etc.

Yeah, I like presents as much as anyone. But the greatest gift to me is having children who are kind and loving, who are honest and hard-working, who don't drag me out in the middle of the night to bail them out of jail, who don't keep me up nights worrying that they're in trouble, who don't break me financially because they need drug rehab, and don't steal from me to support a drug habit. My greatest gift is four fantastic, wonderful, awesome children.

The oldest has two of the cutest little boys on earth. She's smart, funny, has a good job that lets her support herself and the boys, owns her own home, and she comes to see us several times a year even though it's inconvenient and tiring to make the trip after working all week. The second oldest lives far away, but he makes me proud when I see how he treats the ones he loves. He makes more money in a week than we do in two or three months, but he doesn't spend it on high living. He helps his family when they need it, helps his girlfriend when she needs it, puts some back for a rainy day. Oh, and he sent me flowers for Mother's Day. I can't remember the last time I got flowers, but I'm pretty sure the last ones also came from him.

The second oldest is just about to finish college. One more semester to go. He's held a 4 point average in all but one class, works part-time in the computer lab, comes home for the weekend when I need him to or when there's a family gathering so he can be part of it. He's at an age where a lot of kids pull away from their families, but he hasn't done that. I'm looking forward to the day when he finds that special someone and she knocks his socks off. I just pray she's kind and gentle, like he is.

The youngest is our rebel. She's opinionated and very vocal about her beliefs. But like the others, she's a damned good kid. She's beautiful and smart, a killer combination. We're still watching to see where she's headed in life, but I know, without a doubt, she'll make a difference. And she'll make us proud, as her brothers and sister have.

As for me, I tried to send my mom flowers but I waited too late, apparently. FTD's website and 800 number wouldn't take orders, I tried 1-800-Flowers, Teleflora...all busy. My mom is 800 miles away, so I can't pop by and take her a bouquet from the grocery store. I should have sent a card, but I was so busy helping the third child move home from college and working on my books, I forgot.

So I called her today to wish her Happy Mother's Day and reminded her of the hard backed book I gave her last month in case I forgot this month. Hopefully, like most mom's, she understood.

My kids haven't gotten together for a group photo in many years. Here's one from nearly 15 years ago.



Yeah, I've been blessed.

Happy Mother's Day!

Retraction

Okay, Wild Blue made it right. The tech guy came by on his way home from another install, on his own time, and got us up and running. For some reason, the dish had moved slightly, probably from the storm, and it wasn't getting a signal. Now we shall wait and see if it happens again. But for now, I'm a happy--and fast--camper.

Faster than the speed of...huh?

Got Wild Blue Satellite internet yesterday. I was looking forward to being able to actually watch video trailers and upload pictures. The dh was excited about finally being able to surf the web without my computer activity slowing him down.

Well, all we did was build ourselves up to a huge disappointment. $300 for equipment, $50.00 a month for service we're tied into for a full year, and I'm still on dialup. The Wild Blue worked on my computer (way slower than advertised) for about 4 hours. Then the clouds moved in and that was that. No more connection. Can't get it back up. Don't know when the technician can get back out here (he's 2 hours away). I was lied to about having back up dial up service (only the most expensive package has that, and only 10 hours a month). I was told it would be as reliable, if not more, than my Dish Network satellite service. Sorry, Dish is on, Wild Blue is not.

I'm so mad at myself for signing up for this. I'll be out nearly $1000 for something that doesn't work. And I'm still crawling along like a turtle at 12.0 kbps at the moment.

Grrrrrrr.

I've been tagged!

Denise Patrick has tagged me to reveal 8 random things you didn't know about me.

Honestly, is there anything left I haven't already revealed on this blog? Well, I'll give it a shot, but I may be repeating myself.

1. I spent 20 minutes backstage with Garth Brooks in 1992. I won a contest on the radio for a limo ride to the concert and two backstage passes, plus great seats up front at the concert. It was my oldest son's 15th birthday and he was a huge Garth Brooks fan, so it was a great birthday present. And Garth was great. He autographed a bunch of stuff for us, showed us the pictures of his first little girl (we were one of the first to see them), and he treated my son like an adult.

2. I graduated from college at 35, after I'd already had four kids. The youngest was just a year old when I started back to school.

3. I used to be an avid scuba diver. The best place I dove was off the coast of Hawaii. Nearly killed myself, though. We'd been at 70 feet for nearly an hour, the deepest and longest I'd ever been down. The water was so clear, it looked like we were only 10 feet below the boat. When the dive master signaled me to ascend because my air was running low, I forgot to do a decompression stop and went straight to the top. Luckily I remembered at that point and descended back down to 15 feet and stayed there for a while.

4. I have a huge Beanie Baby collection I don't know what to do with, thanks to my mom.

5. I'm a pack rat. A huge pack rat. This is my year to clean up my act. Started clearing out my bedroom closet this week.

6. I make pets out of all of my animals, even the cows. They're all named, and they come running when I whistle.


7. I'm a night owl. I don't even start writing until around 10 p.m. and usually don't go to bed until nearly 3.

8. I'm hooked on 24, House, Jericho, CSI: Las Vegas. I hate reality shows, don't watch American Idol, Survivor, or any of those. Don't like sitcoms. I don't like reading books where the author writes in short, choppy sentences. Love thrillers.

Statcounter and Mother's Day

I love Statcounter. It lets me see who's visited the blog, how they got here, what entries they read, how long they stayed, how many times they've visited (1st timer or repeat visitor).

I also hate it. I obsess over it. I keep the log open all day, refreshing it every hour or so. Who visited from New York? Was that an editor? An agent? A friend? Or a bored secretary looking for romance who was led here from Google? Was that really a prisoner, or a clerk at the prison? (Note to prisoners...hubby has a riot gun and knows how to use it.) How do people from China, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, and Chile find their way to my blog, and what do they think about what they read?

You could easily drive yourself crazy with all the unanswered questions. So my challenge is this...after you read this post, leave a comment telling me how you got here, where you're from, and what you think.

On Mother's Day...I'll only have one kid here for Mother's Day, for the first time in a long time. Should be a quiet, peaceful day--because I intend to make sure the hubby and kid take me out to lunch instead of making me cook! Maybe we'll go see Next while we're out, too.

Speaking of Mother's Day, on the Wet Noodle Posse e-zine, some of the Noodlers talk about their mothers. Check it out at http://www.wetnoodleposse.com.

I still have some submissions out with a couple of agents, and one with an editor that I've given up on. It's been two and a half years and the editor who had it is no longer taking submissions. I have no idea if she's even still there. She never responded to my follow-up letters. But that's okay. I'm getting ready to send it to another editor who does answer my emails and seems to like my stuff. Yay!

Don't forget. Mother's day is May 13th. Do something nice for your mom. She's done a lot for you.

A tragedy

My heart goes out to the friends and families of those killed yesterday at Virginia Tech. As the parent of two college students, I just can't imagine how they will go on.

The tragedy has set off a lot of emotions among friends and colleagues. Lots of argument for gun control, etc. But I disagree. Had the teacher or other students in the classroom been armed, there wouldn't have been such a large-scale massacre. Or if the students had been taught defensive measures, as some students in Texas schools are being taught, they might have had a chance to survive. One of the things some of our students are learning is how to use a textbook as a shield, to grab their desks and use them to charge the shooter, using the desks as both shield and weapon. The worst thing they can do is dive for cover and wait to be executed.

But that's the natural instinct. Without training, any one of us would do the same. But one man armed with a pistol is no match for 30 charging students. He might shoot one, maybe two, but he would be overpowered before he could kill 32 and wound 26.

A lot of blame going around, too, for school officials who didn't sound the alarm after the first shootings. But honestly, how were they to know? Sure, they should have done more than email 2 hours after the first shootings. They should have locked down the school until he was caught. But that's easy to say in hindsight, isn't it? The students had already been somewhat traumatized earlier in the year by a similar incident and school officials probably weren't eager to alarm them again.

What concerns me now are the copycats coming out of the woodwork on campuses across the country. Bomb threats, notes passed to students saying worse is yet to come. Families need to wake up and get help for their out of control kids. They need to be aware of what's going on with their children. They need to keep their guns locked up, out of kids' reach and they need to ask why if their college-aged child feels the need to buy a gun. A little concern and awareness can go a long way toward averting a potential tragedy.

Bored

For some reason lately I've been really bored. So bored, I've resorted to cleaning my house and doing laundry. Even my writing is boring me to tears. I guess this is one of the hazards of living an hour from anything resembling civilization and of not having my own car. The transmission went out on my 13 year old, 300,000 mile Crown Vic and it's just not worth spending the money to fix it. But with our irregular income in the construction biz, borrowing money to buy one isn't feasible and shelling out the dough for another used car--just as old and with nearly as many miles, which is all we can afford--doesn't make sense either. So I'm stuck either going everywhere with the hubby or taking off on my own in his work truck--which I don't do often.

About the only thing exciting that's happened recently is that a friend got the call! And I can't even tell you about that yet until everything's final.

So I'm thinking about posting an online serial of my first book. I loved that book, it came very close to selling to Harlequin Special Edition, but it's not likely to ever see the light of day. My writing has improved big time since that first book and my voice has changed a lot. So, knowing all that, would anyone be interested in reading a chapter a week or so?

When is it okay to halt progress?

The electric co-op here is upgrading from one-phase to three-phase service--whatever that means. To do this, they want to bring the poles across our property. Um, no. That would mean taking down 4 big trees, chopping off one whole side of about fifty 40 foot or taller trees, and I'd have electric poles in my front yard, my garden, and my pasture.

Why can't they put them across the street, where the people have done nothing with the property, they have no big trees, and they wouldn't look out of place? Because the neighbor across the street is the grandfather to the budding serial killer we've had to deal with for the last ten years. He's an ass.

I'm not going to consent to them putting those line on our property. They'd have to come inside to service the lines, and if they have to go in the pasture, we'd be risking having our cows get out. Besides, here's a picture of my front yard. Would you want poles stuck in the middle of it?



I think the pole that's already there looks bad enough. So I'm voting to halt progress--right in my front yard.

Website update

I've updated my website a bit and added some new book excerpts. If you have a few minutes, click on the title above to check it out, then let me know what you think.

It's a homemade website, so it's not too fancy. When I actually get a book contract, I'll hire someone to do a professional one for me.

Or do you think I should suck it up and shell out the dough now?

Congratulations to the Golden Heart and Rita Finalists!

The Wet Noodle Posse did very well in the Golden Heart and Rita contest again this year.

Trish Milburn is a double GH finalist in the YA category.
Mary Fechter finaled in the Single Title category.
Theresa Regan finaled in Paranormal Romance.
Moni Thompson finaled in the Inspirational Category.

Terry McLaughlin is a Rita finalist in the Long Contemporary category.
Stephanie Rowe is a Rita finalist in the Paranormal category.

Congratulations ladies!

Also, congratulations to my friends Bronwyn Parry and Katey Coffing for their Golden Heart finals as well.

The appalling state of education

Click the title above and you can read story after story involving teachers. Teachers having sex with their students. Teachers calling for the execution of anyone who's ever voted Republican. Teachers spreading the poison of communism and socialism to an impressionable generation.

This truth was brought home this weekend when our children were visiting on Spring break. After all the efforts to get them a good education so they could live successful lives, what we ended up with is at least two who have fallen hook, line, and sinker for the agnostic or atheistic teachings of their college professors. Though they claim to think for themselves, you can hear the dogma of socialism, the pat lines used by liberal teachers to sway young minds to their way of thinking.

If teachers spent their time teaching grammar and spelling, you wouldn't have a generation who can't spell even the most basic words. If they spent their time teaching math, you wouldn't have a generation who can't balance a checkbook or do basic calculations without benefit of a calculator. If they spent their time teaching science, this generation wouldn't be so far behind the rest of the world in scientific knowledge. If they'd teach real history instead of a sanitized version, kids might learn from the mistakes of the past and not repeat them.

But education in this country is not designed to enlighten. It's designed to indoctrinate. And they're doing a damned good job of that.

Writers bemoan the advent of the computer in that so many are jumping on the writing bandwagon, increasing the competition. But I say not to worry. Most of those would-be writers can't spell anyway.

Extreme Makeover-Home Edition-March 11 episode

Did you see tonight's episode of Extreme Makeover? In this month's edition of the Wet Noodle Posse e-zine, I did the Superheroine article on one of the teenagers involved in helping make a dream come true for a family who suffered a triple whammy of tragedy. First, they lost their home to a fire. Then they lost their son/brother in a head on collision while trying to rebuild their home. Then Faith Tipton-Smith lost her job and they were unable to finish rebuilding the home her son Ransom had designed before his death.

The community came together and applied to Extreme Makeover to have the house finished, and tonight we got to see it happen. Did you watch the show? I don't know about you, but I've never watched that show without bawling at least once. Tonight, I cried most of the way through it. Partly because I heard about the accident at the time it happened through the mother of Chelsea Korzenko. Chelsea was one of Ransom's many friends, and the loss was devastating for her, as it was for all the student's at Cherokee High.

It was very moving, watching those two girls see their new home for the first time, to see the very obvious love that family has for each other, and to see how moved the other teens were by the whole process. And seeing the girl who got Ransom's heart was very emotional, especially when she met Ransom's family for the first time. And she's amazingly talented.

Tonight's show reminded me once again not to take life for granted, not to sweat the small stuff with my kids, and to not forget to tell them how very much I love them.

Thank you ABC for all you do for families who've had their lives turned upside down.

To read the story and see the pictures, click on the title above.

Extreme Makeover-Home Edition

Be sure to visit the Wet Noodle Posse this month (click on the title above and it will take you there) and read the SuperHeroine article. Then don't miss Sunday's edition of Extreme Makeover, where you can view the rest of the story. Have tissues handy. You're gonna need them.

My own home needs an Extreme Makeover. It desperately needs painting (have you SEEN the price of exterior paint these days? Oy!) It needs airconditioning and all new appliances, a new hot water heater. And I need a real office. I've been using the back porch, which the dh closed in for me in a temporary fix, but it's hotter than Hades in the summer and damned cold in the winter. It's dusty (you should see the inside of my computer. Yikes!) and crowded with the 60 one-gallon water jugs we keep filled for drinking and misc stuff that has no where else to go. I feel cramped and crowded and disorganized, and it makes writing a chore.

But my life has been good, and Extreme Makeover is only for people who've had a real tragedy, so there's not much chance one's going to happen here. But I still dream of the day when I can afford a real place to write, a place where I feel comfortable and relaxed.

If I can find the link again, I'll post a pic of my dream office tonight.



Here it is...my dream office. Isn't it gorgeous?

Prayers For a Fellow Writer

Please pray for Cec Murphey, who ghost wrote Ninety Minutes in Heaven for Don Piper, and his family. His home burned to the ground this morning and his son-in-law was killed in the fire. His agent, Deidre Knight is trying to put together a gift certificate to Target for immediate / short term essentials. They want
to do one for Cec and Shirley, and also his daughter.

If you would like to participate, please send a check to:

Deidre Knight
The Knight Agency
577 South Main St
Madison, Georgia 30650

Make sure the memo line of the check reads "for Cec Murphey."

He has no email access at this time and doesn't need to deal with phone calls, so please just pray for them and send a donation if you can.

A Time For Romance

Fellow Wet Noodle Posse member Teresa Ragan scored the cover of the Granite Bay View. Check out the article, which I thought was really good. Just click the title of this post and it will take you there.

Don't forget to check out the newest edition of the WNP ezine, premiering tomorrow. I wrote the SuperHeroine article this month. http://www.wetnoodleposse.com

In other news...I've finished the web writing, almost finished my taxes, have yet to do the kids' financial aid applications, and I'm itching to get back to the novella. I also woke up with an idea for a new book, which I'm letting simmer on the back burner for a while.

This is my year. I can feel it. I will sell, and hopefully not just one book, but two or three. I am so ready to put the concrete business behind me, and so is my husband. He wants to find a way to make a living with his photography, and I want to make a living with my writing. This time when my ship comes in, I'll be waiting at the dock instead of at the train station. :)

Yes, You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

This new job has taught me several new things. Textile Markup, product research, and how to use Excel, for starters. I've even been teaching the dh how to input product features and use Excel. (He's an older dog than I am).

But you know what I've learned that's been the most valuable? That I can make myself do it even when I don't want to. Well, not every time. There are days when 4 hours straight is all I can manage before I have to take a break. But I've been putting in 10-12 hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week, doing work that can be tedious at times.

So, if I can do that, I know I can make myself write on my books even when I'm tired. Even when there are other tasks calling my name, even when I...don't wanna.

Now all I need to do is convince this old dog that this new trick is fun.

Another bunch of Nitwits

Goingtoday.com. I thought it was a great place at first. Bought the dh some guitar strings for a great price. Then I made the mistake of ordering some stuff for him for Christmas. Most of it was cheaply made, not worth the price, and the software I paid $30 for didn't work right. I emailed them, several times, about returning the item and they ignored me. Are still ignoring me. Dumb of them, because had they bothered to stand behind their sale, I would have continued to buy from them. I would have been a bit more selective, but I would have spent, over the course of the year, much more than a refund would have cost them.

The Rancher Needs A Wife by Terry McLaughlin

The Rancher Needs a Wife
by Terry McLaughlin

About the book:

How can two people so wrong for each other seem so right?

After his divorce, Wayne Hammond hesitated to make anyone the second Mrs. Hammond. Topping the list of the women he shouldn't pick is Maggie Harrison Sinclair.

Maggie has already left Tucker, Montana, once. She's back only to lick her wounds and figure out her next step. Not exactly the ranch-loving, stay-at-home wife and mother that Wayne has always wanted.

But once Wayne and Maggie cross paths, the impossible-to-resist rancher and the bright-lights-loving woman succumb to their hotter-than-heck attraction, resulting in an even bigger complication.

Bright Lights, Big Sky
When Malibu meets Montana, it's magic.


What people are saying about The Rancher Needs a Wife:

"...full of smart dialogue and great characters."
4 stars, Romantic Times BOOKreviews

"...an enchanting novel that provides everything we look for in a great romance...plenty of humor, burning passion, a plot that entertains with every page..."
Nadine St. Dennis, Romance Junkies

"Heartwarming and poignant...have the tissues handy just to be safe."
Lettetia, Contemporary Romance Writers

"Look for more from this author as each book of hers gets better than the last."
Connie Payne, Once Upon a Romance

Happy Almost-Valentine's Day

Are you one of those people who love Valentine's Day, or do you just absolutely hate it?

I can take it or leave it. I call it a "Hallmark" holiday, one of those days you're supposed to go out and break the bank buying over-priced cards and expensive gifts. My husband and I don't do that, at least not any more. There was a time when I wanted so badly to get a pretty card and some flowers, but I learned my husband was a practical kind of guy and not a romantic. Oh, he's done that a few times, but it's not something he enjoys. For our first Valentine's Day he brought me a dozen roses, and they were beautiful. I've never forgotten them. The next year he bought two rose bushes and planted them in the front yard. Seems he hated buying flowers that died in just a few days.

Year three I got a gardenia bush, which he planted outside our bedroom window because I love the scent. A few years later, when we were starving Bible school students living on hot dogs and bologna sandwiches, he came home with two small steaks. We were in heaven for at least one day.

The last few years, he's gotten lazy. A bag of Hershey's kisses sometimes, even though I'm on a perpetual diet. But that's okay, because he shows he cares in other ways. If my computer needs parts added, he's quick to do the job. He washes dishes when I'm busy writing or working, takes care of the animals when I don't have time or if I'm off at conference, doesn't say a word when I fix chocolate chip cookies (while still on that perpetual diet.)

But I've gotten lazy, too. I used to try to find just the right card, just the right gift. Now I skip the cards, and his gift is usually....Hershey's kisses.

Hmmm. Maybe it's true what they say about couples who've been together for years. They start to think alike.

Love/Hate relationships

When I got my first PC back in 1996, I fell in love. We'd had computers before, since around 1987 or 88, but they were monsters with big floppy drives and the only thing you could do with one was play simple games or get on Prodigy. The PC opened up a whole new world. There were people out there! Through the Internet, I discovered RWA, eHarlequin, other writers! I found out I could write stories without having to painstakingly type them out, then retype the whole thing if I decided to change something or found an error. I discovered Free Cell. I found Pogo.com. Email!

Then I learned to hate computers as well. They freeze. They crash. They die. They eat important stuff. They enslave you, making you sit in front of them 16-18 hours a day. (I work my day job from home at the computer, as well as write and hang out with friends online). When you try to upload your work, you get error messages and lose what you'd worked so hard on if you forgot to save it first.

Then they send you ugly emails, saying "I'm sorry. I loved your writing, your characters are wonderful, and it's a great story, but..."

And sometimes they send you great emails, like "I want to buy this, once it's finished." Uh-huh. Like the computer is ever going to turn me loose from the day (and now late into the night) job long enough to write something besides website copy.

So my computer and I have a love/hate relationship.

And I'm beginning to feel the same about the whole publishing business. I watch friends get slammed by rude and inconsiderate editors and agents. Some agents will swear up and down to your face that they work for you. But then they get their hands on my friends' work and sit on it. One friend's agent submitted one manuscript to 8 editors--in the course of 3 years! Another one never got around to sending even one thing out in the year before my friend fired her.

Then there are agents like Miss Snark and Kristin Nelson and Jessica Faust who not only work hard for their clients, they blog about the business to help us get a better grasp on how things are supposed to work.

An editor requested a full from a friend, all excited after reading the partial. My friend got the manuscript back in the mail with the form rejection slapped on top, her cover letter still in the pile. Did the editor even read it? She'll never know, because the editor didn't say one single solitary word.

Where would the publishing industry be without writers? Are we so unimportant that we don't deserve respect? We don't deserve a word of explanation, of encouragement?
Yes, I know editors and agents are busy. But you know what? So are we. We have full-time jobs and families and houses to take care of, meals to cook, errands to run, groceries to buy. We steal time from sleep to put our hearts on paper. We take time away from our families. We miss out on parties and vacations and fun.

How do they know that author isn't the next Stephen King or Nora Roberts? Who knows where that author will be ten years from now when that agent is dying to get them on their client list, not realizing this was an author they brushed off with a form rejection? And I'm not talking about baby-faced writers who haven't even finished a book. These friends are award-winning writers. They know how to write. I've read some of their work and it's better than a lot of what I've bought off the shelf. A lot of books I buy I end up throwing at the wall. But my friends' work keeps me rooted to my computer chair way past my bedtime or way past time I should be earning my living.

So, I have a love/hate relationship with publishing, too. I love the Woman's World editor who loved my story enough to buy it. I love the editor who loved my books enough to try to talk her boss into buying it. I don't love her boss, who turned it down. I love the editor who is waiting for me to finish this book that I don't have time to touch right now.

I'm not real happy with the editor who's had my partial for 18 months without so much as an email. I'm not too thrilled with the agent who had a partial for 14 months and never got around to reading it, despite several promises to get to it. But I do learn my lessons. I won't submit to them again. My time is worth as much as theirs, and so is my pride. I hope my friends have learned their lessons as well.
And like agents and editors, writers also talk amongst themselves about who did what, and to whom.

And then there were six

My profile says we have 5 cows. As of yesterday, we have 6. A new calf, solid black with a white diamond on her forehead--a beautiful little girl.

What's strange is that she was born in January instead of March. Our cows always calve at the same time each year. You normally could set your calendar by them. But the same day the calf was born the robins arrived in our yard--also 2 months ahead of schedule. My yard needs to be mowed. The clover--also normally a March emergent--has already come and gone.

Are the seasons changing? Is this just a one time weird event, or will summer come in April this year and leave in July? Will cold weather hit in October?

It's all very, very strange.

A Nibble...

Got an email from an editor a couple of days ago. She loves the partial I sent her for a novella. It needed a minor change in the premise, and of course I have to finish it before she can make an offer, but...

Stay tuned.

The Greek's Virgin

The Greek's Virgin by Trish Morey



Seduced for revenge, taken for pleasure!

When Alexander Koutoufides seduced the young Saskia Prentice it was for revenge! Now she is back and Alex decides to finish what he started...for pleasure!
Saskia cannot forgive the sexy Greek who nearly stole her innocence, or forget the stormy passion they shared! She knows Alex wants her, his ruthless reputation confirms that he will have her.

The only uncertainty is...how long can she resist him?


The Reviews

4 Stars from RT - "Alex and Saskia are well-written characters and Morey does an excellent job of revealing the intense passion they share in both their arguments and their love scenes, making this story a pleasure from beginning to end." ~ Stephanie Schneider - Romantic Times Magazine

"Another superbly plotted romance from Trish Morey, THE GREEK'S VIRGIN will scorch your senses — it's so passionate. This novel is full of sensuality and angst, a heady mixture that really combines well to deliver a story one can't help but become enthralled by. THE GREEK'S VIRGIN sizzles with sensual heat and is definitely a must read!" ~ Leena Hyat - Author Sound Relations


Join Trish's mailing list to enter her latest contest and win a basket of downunder goodies. Simply email Trish at trish@trishmorey.com and you'll be sent all the details!

The Rest Falls Away

The Rest Falls Away
by Colleen Gleason

Beneath the glitter of dazzling 19th-century London Society lurks a bloodthirsty evil....

Vampires have always lived among them, quietly attacking unsuspecting debutantes and dandified lords as well as hackney drivers and Bond Street milliners. If not for the vampire slayers of the Gardella family, these immortal creatures would have long taken over the world.




In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy, and this time, Victoria Gardella Grantworth is chosen, on the eve of her debut, to carry the stake.

But as she moves between the crush of ballrooms and dangerous, moonlit streets, Victoria's heart is torn between London's most eligible bachelor, the Marquess of Rockley, and her enigmatic ally, Sebastian Vioget.

And when she comes face to face with the most powerful vampire in history, Victoria must ultimately make the choice between duty and love.

What Others Are Saying...

"Sophisticated, sexy, surprising! With its vampire lore and Regency graces, this book grabs you and holds you tight till the very last page!"
--J R Ward, NYT best-selling author of Lover Awakened

"A promising, enthusiastic beginning to a new paranormal historical series, Gleason's major label debut follows the adventures of a conflicted young vampire hunter in Regency England...Gleason quickly establishes an alluring world all her own. Her Buffyesque lead (Gleason has acknowledged the inspiration) is similarly afflicted, but the change of setting makes an intriguing, witty and addictive twist."
--Publishers Weekly

The Rest Falls Away trailer

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Happy New Year

Most of the blog posts I've seen the last couple of days have been about making resolutions. I'm not doing that this year. I've set some goals--to complete the rewrite of Last Breath and write the sequel, and to find a new source of income--but that's pretty much it. Yes, I have habits I need to break, weight I need to lose, etc., but I find that if I make those into New Year's resolutions, then I feel like I've failed when I eat that first bite of chocolate or yield to temptation and buy that first Dr. Pepper, and I give up. So this year it's going to be more about daily discipline and less about all or nothing.

To that end, my goals include writing 3 pages per day, every day, or 90 pages per month. Hmmm, that doesn't sound like much. But hopefully I'll have days when I write a lot more, but no days where I write less. And I'm checking into franchises and other ways of earning an income way out in the boondocks where jobs are scarce and rarely pay more than $6 an hour.

I've already accomplished one goal I'd set: to write a will. I've put it off for years, but I decided it was time.

What are your goals for 2007?

Here's another list of things you probably didn't know about me (and probably didn't really want to know, either. :) . The things I've done are in bold

1. Used real snow to make/eat a snow cone -- Yes, and snow ice cream as well. It was my favorite thing about living in New York

2. Slept in you car while parked at the side of the road--and in truck stop parking lots

3. Didn't go to bed until 4 in the morning on New Year's Day --actually, I do this quite often when I'm writing.

4. Dyed an Easter egg, using all the colors available

5. Catch a scent on the air that reminded you of something from your childhood (graham crackers really cause a sense of deja vu. my grandmother's pantry always smelled like that)

6. Taken a picture of the sky because it was a remarkable shade of blue that day--or because the cloud formations were really cool, or there was a rainbow, or...

7. Caught a fish and cleaned it yourself, then cooked it for dinner

8. Wished you bought two pairs of your favorite shoes -- many times. One of these days I'll learn to just go ahead and buy two or three pairs

9. Made a list like this

10. Taken art lessons

11. Taken ballet lessons

12. Driven a really scary stretch of road--Cameron Pass in Colorado back in the 70's. Oh. My. God. Sheer Terror.

13. Read a book from cover to cover in one sitting -- Oh yeah. Several times

14. Written a letter to your Congressman

15. Changed political parties

16. Made a boat yourself, and sailed in it

17. Worn mismatched shoes by accident

18. Been so happy you wanted to burst into song

19. Watched Barney, as an adult, without becoming annoyed

20. Thought you could walk to Sesame Street

22. Came up with a new recipe

23. Snorkeled or dived a coral reef

24. Been in a shark cage

25. Been told that a character in a Nora Roberts book reminded a friend of you

26. Howled in the car with your kids

27. Loved someone so much your heart hurt--every single day

28. Painted a house--more times than I want to think about.

29. Painted a picture in the style of a famous painter

30. Seen the Mona Lisa

31. Seen the Hope Diamond

32. Been the president of the PTA

33. Sat on Santa's lap...as an adult

34. Lost your spouse

35. Driven a race car--I wanted to, but dh wouldn't let me touch his hobby stock car. :(

36. Eaten fried okra--Love it!

37. Climbed Mt. Everest

38. Seen Mt. Rushmore

39. Saved a baby bird that had fallen from its nest

40. Tried a food you always thought was gross and discovered you loved it -- asparagus, avacados, tuna cassarole

41. Been to Hawaii--spent 2 weeks there. Loved it, wanted to stay.

42. Been to Africa

42. Had an "old-time" picture taken with your family, your friends or alone -

43. Made good friends via the Internet -- Most of my friends are online ones

44. Met a movie star--several. Too many to list, actually. Plus a number of country singers. Got to spend about 20 minutes backstage with Garth Brooks about 14 years ago.

45. Seen the Queen of England in person

46. Indulged in a tinsel fight while decorating the Christmas tree

47. Attended a family reunion

48. Couldn't turn out the lights for the night after reading a Stephen King nove

49. Gone on a cruise

50. Can you remember where you where the day the Challenger exploded? -- Absolutely. I was leading chapel services for a small school. Then had to deal with the shocked kids afterward.

Pay it Forward

I know Christmas is the season of miracles, but today I got one that floored me. I've been fretting about how I was going to pay for groceries this week after shelling out our last $400 for a propane tank and propane. With the kids all coming home for Christmas, as well as my two young grandsons, I knew we had to have heat and hot water for showers. The dh and I can get along fine without the heat, but not the kids. They aren't used to living with the cold. But the youngest comes home today and she requires a special diet due to stomach troubles, so I needed to be able to buy things she can eat.

I've prayed and prayed the last few days. Stress made my stomach burn. Still, when I went to bed last night nothing had changed. It looked like I would be picking the youngest up at the airport and not able to buy her anything to eat on the way home.

I woke up this morning to an email from a friend, with a link to Paypal. There she had sent a Christmas gift, one that will let me buy food for the youngest plus enough to get the grownups through Christmas. And I know something else will come up by then to get us through, a concrete job or a house remodel or something.

And when we get back to having money coming in, I'll pay it forward by helping out someone else who's running short.

Thanks, friend. You know who you are. You'll always have a special place in my heart and prayers.

For everyone else, if you've been blessed this year, pay it forward and help someone else. Look at your own family, first. Do you have a brother or sister, nieces or nephews, who are struggling? What about your parents? Your kids? Even a $20 bill could buy them a tank of gas or a turkey or something to put in their kids' stockings. What about that struggling older couple down the street? Could they use a bag of groceries or a stack of firewood?

If you don't know anyone who needs help, check with your local nursing home. There are always old people or mentally handicapped people there who don't have visitors and might not get anything for Christmas. Take a bag of gifts and drop them off with a nurse for her to hand out. Pick an Angel from the Angel tree and go shopping. Read the ads on Craigslist in your area to see who is begging for toys for their kids and help them out.

There are so many ways to be a blessing. Just look around. While I haven't had much money this season, I have dug my change out to put in the buckets for Toys for Tots and Salvation Army. I've also been Freecycling like crazy--cleaning out no longer used clothing and things and passing them along--free--to whoever can make use of them. I've called people I haven't heard from in a while to check on them. I've been extra nice to the harried clerks in the stores, offering them a smile to help make their day a little brighter.

And you know what? I feel better every time I pay it forward just a little bit.

Merry Christmas!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Looking forward to a great Christmas this year. All four kids will be here, as well as our two grandsons. I had fun buying presents for everyone, did most of my shopping--stress-free--online, and I've finished decorating the tree and setting up the Christmas village on the buffet. I still have to hang the garland around the windows, wrap the stairway banister and the walkway rails with garland and lights, add the bows, and hang the mini-decorations along the banister. Then it's on to the outside. We're saving the outside for next week when temps are supposed to be back up in the 60's. (The pic is from last Christmas)

I have 2 things I'm making that have turned out to be much more work than I'd planned, so I hope I get them finished in time.

Now I just pray that the kids will get along while they're all here. :)

What do you have left to do before Christmas? Are you looking forward to the holidays, or dreading them? I have to admit, I'm looking forward to them more than usual and one of the reasons is that I'm getting a laptop for Christmas. Actually, I'm getting it next week. Dh finally decided to agree that I really, really need one, and that my writing has reached a point where publication is a real possibility, so he sees it as an investment in my future, not as a luxury. Yay!!

Oh, and did I mention that I'm going to be paying $30 a month for that laptop, probably for the next 5 years? LOL.

Update

Well, I got my Golden Heart entry finished and sent in on time...but. The danged file on the CD wouldn't open, so I've just finished printing out a hard copy and I'm on my way to the post office to send it to RWA.

Monday I start in on the revisions. I need to add about 100 pages to bring it up to Mainstream length, though it would work for Intrigue with just about another 5000 words added--words sorely needed to fill a couple of plot holes. So I might do that first. But I think this book has real potential and I don't want to sell it short. So I'll be doing the agent query thing over the next few weeks, too. There are a couple of big contests besides RWA that I want to enter it in as well.

It feels really good to know I can write a book in the midst of all kinds of chaos, while doing backbreaking, mind-numbing labor, and I can make (barely) a deadline no matter what. I'll never again be able to tell myself I don't have time to write. The time is always there. It's just a matter of how we use it.

I also entered a photo of my dog, Blue, in a photo contest. You can rate it at http://photocontest.shutterfly.com/action/photocontest/vote?entry=167948 We could use the prize money, and the dogs could use the dog house since they got kicked outside for peeing on my rug and ruining my hardwood floors. Well, okay, they sleep in the enclosed back porch, but still. :)

We finished the house renovation as well. Hopefully the dh's uncle will be able to sell it quickly now that it's been updated and repaired. It looks like a totally different house. I'm still impressed with what all the dh can do. The tile floor looks fantastic, the kitchen looks so much better with new countertops and a new wall. The patio looks so inviting, with half walls around it just the right height to sit on or to line with plants. The termite damage to the carport area is all gone and replaced with new wood. I even mowed the yard and put mulch in the flower beds.
So I have two reasons to celebrate. Book finished, house finished.

Oh, and one more celebration coming up tomorrow. Our 34th wedding anniversary.

Important Info Every Writer Should Read

Do you have a will? Does it address what happens to your books, your short stories, your works-in-progress, your unpublished manuscripts, poems, songs, etc.? If not, click the link above, download the .pdf file, and get it done!

Progress Update

Just need another 65 pages to get to the GH target length for this book, but it's looking like I'm going to have to settle for a little less. It's been a wild and exhausting 5 weeks, with many distractions and important things vying for my attention. But I want to enter, so I've spent many a late night/early morning working around the other things in my life. But I'm so excited about this book. It feels "right" you know? Like when you see that perfect guy and you suddenly know, without even being introduced, that he's "the one." That really happened to me when I first saw the dh. I knew he was the one I was going to marry. It never even occurred to me that he might be something other than what I saw--a good looking man with laughing blue eyes and an easy, little boy grin. We'll celebrate our 34th anniversary Dec. 7th.

And this book will sell. I know it will. But sending it off to the GH won't be the end. I need to expand it by another 30,000 words, expand and develop some scenes, add a subplot. That's my goal for December and maybe January (lots of other things that need to be done between now and Christmas.) But I'm going to go out on a limb and send out some agent queries when I get within 10,000 words of the end.

The remodeling job should be finished by the end of next week, so once that's behind me, it's full speed ahead on the writing. Can't wait!

What are you thankful for?

Too often we get caught up in our problems and woes and forget to give thanks for the good things in our lives. The last few months have been hard ones. Work has been slow and jobs few and far between, our oldest daughter is still battling the deep vein thrombosis problem caused by the birth control patch, one of our dogs was nearly killed by a pack of wild dogs, and my mother ended up in ICU with pneumococcal meningitis.

So what am I thankful for? The remodeling job that has provided a steady income for the last 4 weeks, that my daughter is still with us, as is the dog, and my mother improved rapidly once diagnosed and is now back home. I'm thankful I have four beautiful, smart, witty children, two beautiful and smart and loving grandsons, a husband who loves me--and who can do just about anything he sets his hand to--my four dogs who love so unconditionally, my friends who pick me up when I'm down, and most of all I'm thankful that God never gave up on me.

Happy Thanksgiving. Do a random act of kindness for someone you don't know this week, and don't tell anyone you did it.

Update on mom

Shortly after I posted about mom's car being repossessed, I got a call from my sister telling me that mom was in the hospital, in ICU. At first they thought she'd had a stroke, but it turned out she had meningitis. After 24 hours of touch and go, she's responding to the medication, can now say yes and no--but nothing else that makes any sense. She has pneumococal (sp?) meningitis, very dangerous, especially for the elderly. Started as an ear infection and progressed within a few hours to a life-threatening illness.

Hug your moms and check to see if she has a fever. If she does, take her to the doc!

Super Nitwits

My mother is 77 years old, living on social security and a small pension. She was one payment behind on her note to GMAC, with another soon to be due. As she was getting ready to leave for an overseas mission trip sponsored by her church, she called GMAC to explain the situation and tell them she was leaving a check with my sister (who she lives with) to be mailed when her social security check was auto-deposited to her bank account. GMAC assured her that was fine, and mom left on her missions trip thinking everything was taken care of.

She arrived back at my sister's house 10 days later to find that her car had been repossessed the day after she'd left.

There is more than one nitwit in this situation. By far the biggest is GMAC, who lied to an old lady and repossessed a car she'd faithfully made payments on for 2 years (in spite of the fact that she'd been totally taken advantage of by the car dealer and things were slipped into the contract that she'd specifically said she didn't want, like the extended warranty) and who used information she gave them (date of her trip) to sneak in like thieves to take the car away.

The second, and barely lesser nitwit, is my sister. Why didn't she just make the payment for our mother and let her repay her when she got home? The whole situation could have, and should have been avoided. I mean, geez, it's not like my mom never does anything for her. She sold her house and gave my sister $100,000 to finish building their new house. (bye-bye inheritance). Mom babysits my sister's grandkids so she doesn't have to. She helps out at the church my sister and her husband pastor, cooks, cleans. So my sister could have stepped out of her ingrained selfishness for once and helped out, don't you think?

Mom never even told me she was behind. I'd have sent her the money, even if it meant being temporarily behind on my own bills. I have no house note or car notes, so nothing would have been repossessed if I was late.

Now mom has to either come up with $13,000 to get her car back, pay the difference between the note and what they get for the car at auction (likely around $9000) and not get her car back, or she's going to have to declare bancruptcy. I can picture my dad up in heaven, pulling his hair out.

Someone should give GMAC a clue gun so they can shoot themselves. Which is better? Waiting a few days to get their payment, or now losing most of the money? Maybe being a little more humane would win them more customers at a time when Americans are lapping up foreign cars and turning their noses up at the Chevy gas hogs. Ya think?

Updates

Blue is much, much better, though his neck is swelling a bit again. Guess there's still some infection in there, so I'm starting him on another round of antibiotics and more rinsing with hydrogen peroxide (a risky proposition for the person applying the peroxide.) But he's back to playing Frisbee and barking at anything that moves.

As for writing, I'm on page 166 of the book I'm trying to finish in time to enter it in the GH. In spite of working 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, the last several weekends taken up by family or doggie responsibilities, I'm keeping to my 5 pages per day most days. I've crashed and burned a few nights and gone to bed without pages completed, but not too often. I've started taking my Alphasmart to work with me, writing 2 pages on the way there and another 2 on the way home. That way, at least, I only have to coax one page from my overtaxed brain.

And speaking of...I hear my bed calling.

More Nitwits and a Blue Update

More Nitwits: the people who base their political choices on a candidate's fiction writings. Come on, do we not realize there is a difference between fiction and reality? The stuff I write in my books is not necessarily something I would do in real life. That's why it's called fiction, people. In order to have a compelling story, you have to engage your characters in situations that are sometimes larger than life. Not to mention the fact that in today's market, it had better either have lots of sex, or be a Christian story, to get published at all. Let's make the choices based on who has the right vision for our country's future.

As for Blue, he's still better but the side of his neck is very swollen. I can't get him to the vet without tranquilizers, and I can't get the tranquilizers without taking him to the vet. I don't know what to do at this point. I'm giving him some Oxytetracycline I had here from when a calf had scours, so I'm hoping that will clear up the problem. I still can't let him outside, though, unless I'm with him. The dogs are all back. Yesterday they were attacking the neighbor's Shetland pony. The pony was kicking them, so I'm hoping at least one of the dogs got a good head kick.

Doesn't the stupid neighbor realize one of her little boys is very likely to be the next victim?

Blue update

Just a quick update. Blue is moving very slowly, holding his neck still, barely turning his head. Looks like the dogs went for his throat mostly. Going to the vet today for tranquilizers so I can take him in to be checked.

One good thing out of all of this is that the neighbor across the street has restrained his pit bull and is building a fence to keep him in. The neighbors next door seem to have gotten rid of most of the other dogs. Hopefully they took them to the pound. Since they have small children, I think possibly this incident might have prevented a worse tragedy in the future.