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

Add to My Profile | More Videos

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!