Friday Fun Facts: Kindle Freebie!

“Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.” ~Leo Burnett

Just one major announcement for today: my novel One Night in Boston is being featured from April 1 - April 13 as a Kindle Freebie over at Amazon! That's right, you can download it absolutely FREE for your Kindle ~ so pass along the word to anyone you might know who has one!

This is a pretty exciting bit of marketing for me. Samhain chooses books/authors to feature each month, so I was thrilled to be selected. The idea, of course, is that people will take the free read, like it, and then want to purchase your other books.

Right now, thanks to this promotion, One Night in Boston is #2 on the Amazon Kindle Store best-selling list, #1 in Romance, and #1 in General Ficition. Very exciting!!! Even better, one reader already left a 4-star review saying "Finally a Kindle Freebie worth the download" and went on to tag my other two One Night books for her To Be Read list.

Here's the link to buy (well, to download for free) ~ happy Friday!

Writers' Wednesday: Book Recommendation: The Absolutely True Diary...

"If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing." ~Sherman Alexie

OK, I have a book recommendation for you. Yes, it's Young Adult, since I've been reading a lot of that lately, and yes, adults as well as upper-level teens will like it.

I had seen this book recommended on a number of “Must Read” lists of Young Adult fiction – but I’ll be honest, the rather awkward title put me off. Don't make this same mistake! The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a brilliant, heart-breaking, funny, powerful story that will remain with you long after you finish the final page.

I loved it.

Absolutely loved it.

Arnold “Junior” Spirit is a teen living on a Spokane Indian Reservation. He’s the awkward, cross-eyed, friendless son to drunken but well-meaning parents, and he’s also too smart to stay on the “rez." After sitting in class one day realizing that life on the rez means a dead-end life, Junior decides he wants to attend the all-white school twenty-two miles away.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells the story of Junior’s freshman year as the only Indian at Reardan High School (well, besides the mascot). He’s picked on, ignored, beat up – and then, miracle of miracles, accepted, not only by fellow nerd Gordy, but by the beautiful. blonde Penelope and even the jocks. Amid this adjustment, though, Junior has to deal with the fact that his best friend on the rez, Rowdy, is furious (and heart-broken) at being deserted. The rest of the Indians aren’t any more forgiving, either.

The brilliance of this book is Junior’s voice. It is poignantly honest, funny, offensive at times, smart and smart-assed, and it doesn’t shy away from telling the horrible truths about what life is like on an Indian reservation – and what happens when you’re the single minority in a brand new school full of white faces.

One warning, however: there are a lot of sexual references and vulgarity, so even though it’s tagged as appropriate for grades 7-10, I’d recommend this book for older readers rather than middle schoolers.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a brilliant piece of YA fiction that deserves every accolade it’s received. I loved it!! Anyone else out there read it?

Monday Mentionables: Release Day!!

Happy Monday everyone!! It's release day for Lost in Paradise - the audio book. I'm so excited! Click on the fantastic cover below to go to Audio Lark's website and hear a clip (and I love my narrator, by the way). And just in case you're visiting for the first time, here's the original trailer for the book, too. I have had so many people write and tell me how much they fell in love with Eddie......

Friday Fun Facts: I'm Like a Kid in a Candy Store...

"We should read to give our souls a chance to luxuriate." ~Henry Miller

I've just scheduled another book signing, for Saturday June 5, 2-4 pm at the Barnes and Noble in downtown Ithaca, NY. If you're in the area, please mark your calendars and stop by to say hello!

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Yesterday was my "kid in a candy store" day, since this week is Educator Appreciation Week at Borders, which means 30% everything if you have your school ID. Now, Borders usually has pretty good deals/sales anyway, but still, this is a treat for me :) I actually asked my students today which books they'd like to see on our "borrowing bookshelf" in the classroom (most of those I get from used book sales, paperbackswap.com, donations, or the few I buy I myself). These are the ones they suggested that I was actually able to find in the store (and thanks to gift cards left over from Christmas, I didn't spend a cent!):

Jellicoe Road
Thirteen Reasons Why
Shutter Island
An Abundance of Katherines
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Have you read any of them? I'll give a report as I do!

Writers' Wednesday: Hunt for Eggs and Prizes!

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness! ~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

Very exciting news! The Long and the Short of It review site is sponsoring a FANTASTIC Easter Egg Hunt, beginning next week. But you can find out all about it right now (and there are tons of prizes) by clicking on the graphic above. Don't you want to play??

Monday's Mentionables: A Hodge-Podge of Things

"She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short." ~Brian Andreas

Hmm, what's worth mentioning today? Let's see, I think a hodge-podge of things:

First and most exciting, I'll be reading from Summer's Song at Lady Jane's Salon on November 1, 2010. Yes, I know that's a while from now BUT mark your calendars! Very very exciting for me...reading from one of my books in a swanky Manhattan nightclub to friendly romance readers and fellow authors. And the book releases in print the very next day, so I'm hoping it will be a great promo opportunity!

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I play the NCAA March Madness brackets at my workplace every year. Some years I do pretty well - others not as much. This year even though the weekend saw some top seeds knocked out (Nothern Iowa over Kansas? I still can't believe it) I have somehow managed to be in 3rd place out of 9o+ sheets. (This, of course, won't last, but it's still kind of fun bragging rights now).

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It was GORGEOUS here over the weekend - flirting with the high 60s both Saturday and Sunday, which inspired me to do some spring cleaning outdoors. Ugh. First off, our lawn is huge, second, it's covered with leaves and sticks, and third, my body's crying out after 2 straight afternoons of raking and lifting and hauling and...

I suppose since it's only March, I have some time, but still. The weeks fly by!

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I officially put my most recent romance novel, Entwined, to the side (well, actually it's with 2 beta readers) - so I'm not going to look at it again for a while. Instead, think I'll go back to my YA novel and do some work on that. Interestingly enough, my massage therapist knows a 16 year old psychic and gave me her phone number - which is perfect since that's exactly what the heroine of my book is going to be. Soooo...I'm glad I have someone "authentic" to tap for research, but I'll be honest - I'm a little nervous about what I might find out after talking to her!

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OK, that's all for this Monday. I'm off to tackle the first of 5 days 'til Spring Break - can't wait!!!

Writers' Wednesday: Online Auction to Benefit New Bookstore

Announcement: Firepetal Books, a newly-opened young adult/children's bookstore in is opening near Salt Lake City, is running an online auction to raise money for children's programming, now through March 20. Among the items up for bid: both children's books and a variety of agent/editor critiques for those writers out there.

Check it out!

Monday's Mentionables

I've said it before, and I'll say it again (and probably again, if you hang around long enough): networking is crucial, and attending author events can give you contacts you'll never get if you sit at home in front of your keyboard. Case in point:

I had a book signing at my local Borders over the weekend. I didn't have any new releases, so I wasn't planning on big sales. I sold 3 books total, but better than that, I had a chance to chat with my local author friends, whom I rarely see, confirm that I'll be sitting on a couple of panels at at the Authors After Dark conference in September, and meet a new author, Leanna Renee Hieber.

Leanna is lovely, gracious - and the author of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, published by Dorchester. She was accompained by a self-confessed "groupie" named Biz, who turns out to be a professional photographer from NYC who offers huge discounts for authors. If I ever get important enough to need a new/professional head shot, guess I know where to go!

Even better, though, Leanna is the founder of Lady Jane's Salon - a romance readers' group that meets monthly at a swanky bar in Manhattan where romance authors read from their works and mingle with a friendly crowd. She invited all of us to contact her for spots in the upcoming year and I'll admit, I'm thrilled. How much fun would that be???

Bottom line: you never know who you're going to meet at a signing, conference or other kind of author event. Keep your mind and your options open - every person you talk to about your book is one more potential reader. And who knows how many readers that person has the power of reaching?

I'll let you know when I'm "appearing" at Lady Jane's Salon. Ooh, I get goosebumps just thinking about it!

Friday Fun Facts: Weekend Book Signing!

“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” ~Tennessee Williams

Tomorrow (Saturday), I have a book siging at Borders in the Galleria Mall in Middletown, New York, from 2-4 pm. I'll be there with Stella Price, Cat Johnson, and Tilly Greene. If you're in the area, stop by and say hello!

Writers' Wednesday: I'm Blogging over at Samhain Today!

"What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call." ~Liz Carpenter

Yes, that's right: today I'm blogging over at Samhain Publishing. Want some insight about one of the people in the dedication of my latest release? Check out what I have to say about long-distance friends and old-fashioned letter writing (and leave a comment if you'd like)!

Monday's Mentionables: Guest Blogging Today!

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. I'll always be with you.” ~from Winnie the Pooh

Hey, I'm blogging over at Ann Lory's Blog Bites today ~ please stop by and visit!

Friday Fun Facts: Getting Recognized by the Local Borders Manager is Wayyyyyyy Cool

“Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, and riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.” ~Horace Greeley

My squeeee for the week:

Yesterday I stopped into my local Borders to pick up a book (Looking for Alaska, by the way, since I need at least 2 copies in my room because so many of my students want to borrow it this year). The manager recognized me on sight, asked if I had anything new coming out soon, and when I said yes in May, he asked for the title so he could recommend it to customers.

How cool is that?!

I do have a couple of appearances coming up in the next few months, and I'll probably be adding some as the weather gets nicer, so check out Allie's Appearances over there in my sidebar every so often. I'd love to see you!

Writers' Wednesday: An Interview with Bianca D'Arc

Welcome to Writers' Wednesday! I'm so happy to welcome my book signing buddy and fellow Samhain author, Bianca D'Arc, to celebrate the release of her brand new book (and first with Kensington Brava), ONCE BITTEN TWICE DEAD.

OK, Bianca, tell us a little about your background...

I was a professional student for a while. I have degrees in biochemistry, library science and law. I also spent a lot of time pursuing a career I ultimately gave up in favor of writing. Smartest move I ever made. In my youth, I studied and taught martial arts and like to bring some of that knowledge into my stories as well.

When did you first begin writing? Was there an event or moment in your life that triggered your desire to write?

I've been writing since I was a kid. I guess I was inspired by the knowledge that my Mom's uncle had been a famous writer in Europe. He died before I was born but he was such a large influence on my Mom's life - and through her, on mine - that writing was something I always wanted to try to do. While I don't kid myself that I'm anywhere near his caliber, I try to become a better writer each day and with each book. I doubt I'll ever write "literature" but the small success I've had is really gratifying.

So interesting! Now, tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD is my first novel published by a big, New York publisher. It's the beginning of a trilogy of military paranormal novels featuring zombies as the bad guys. It's a little darker than my other work, but I wouldn't call it horror. I'm not really a horror kind of girl. ;-)

The heroine is a county cop who encounters zombies on patrol and the hero is a Green Beret who's been sent to clean up the zombie problem. They work together on the case and, of course, fall in love. There are some scary moments with the zombies and a mad scientist who is trying to perfect the contagion that created the zombies, but together our hero and heroine win the day and save humanity from the zombie menace... for now.

Congrats on publishing with Kensington Brava! Inquiring minds want to know: how do you go about developing your characters?

My characters almost feel like real people to me. Once I decide what they look like and what their name is, a set of traits sort of adheres to them in my mind. From there, they sort of take on a life of their own and they become easier to write.

What advice would you give to new writers just starting out?

Just keep writing. The more you write - and the more you listen to feedback from editors and other writers - the better you become. Writing and submitting is only part of the work. Learning how to be a better writer is something that you have to work on every time the opportunity arises. Each round of edits. Each critique. Everything is an opportunity to learn.

What kinds of books do you like to read? Who is your favorite author?

I love sci fi and fantasy. Right now I'd have to say my favorite author is Elizabeth Moon. I also love Tolkein, of course, and still read books by Mercedes Lackey, Barbara Hambly, Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris among others.

What do you find most difficult about writing? What do you find most exciting or rewarding?

The biggest difficulty is the isolation. Writing is awesome, but writers tend to spend a lot of time alone in front of a computer. It can get lonely, which is something I didn't realize until just recently. The exciting part is when readers enjoy what I write. I love talking with other people about the worlds I write about and I love it when they are as enthusiastic as I am about the characters and places I've dreamed up.

How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?

I'm still working on finding balance. I started writing full time about three or four years ago and up 'til now I've devoted pretty much all my time to making a go of it. On the way I seem to have lost a bit of the balance between writing and a personal life. At some point soon, I'll need to fix that. I just have to figure out how. If you have any ideas, let me know! :)

Hmm...okay (I think that's a challenge for many of us!) Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?

Not writer's block, per se, but sometimes a book gets sort of "stuck" at a certain point. In fact, that just happened in my current project. I usually work off a sort of vague outline and my most recent project got hung up in the middle of my outline. The way I'm going to overcome that little problem is to skip to an area of the story that works, get the story flowing again, then go back and address how to glue the two pieces together. When I get stuck it's usually because I got a little too bogged down in the outline. Jumping ahead to another part of the action usually gets things moving.

Describe your writing space for us.

I write on a laptop so my space is anywhere I make it. Nowadays I'm writing mostly in the family room, sitting in a recliner my Dad bought for my Mom. She passed away recently and I never thought I'd use her chair but somehow it's comforting.

I'm so sorry to hear of your mother's passing. The idea of sitting in her recliner sounds like a lovely, and comforting, one. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I like chatting with friends on the computer. Other than that, I've become too much of a recluse in recent years. I really need to get out more!

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your book(s)?

That I don't always have to have a plan. Sometimes the most amazing things happen unconsiously while I'm writing. New characters show up from out of nowhere and they tend to be some of the most exciting characters I've written. I've learned to go with the flow and see where the muse leads me.

When you write, do you use the computer or compose by hand, oral dictation, or some other method?

I type fast. I have also toyed with using voice recognition software from time to time but I usually go back to typing.


What is your favorite movie? Did it inspire your writing in any way?

That's a tough one. My all-time favorite movie is Buckaroo Banzai, but I have a lot of other favorites. Batteries Not Included is a great one. I've seen The Fifth Element a few times in the past few weeks - loved it except for the ridiculous clothing. I also love Ladyhawke and I have a fondness for really bad B movies starring Rutger Hauer. ;-)

Bianca, thanks so much for stopping by! Anything else you’d like to mention?

I'd like to thank Allie for having me today. She's a great friend and a lovely person. Many thanks to her for allowing me to drop by and promote my new book, ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD. ;-)

Readers, find out more about this prolific author and her new release at her website, right here.

Monday Mentionables A "Best Book" Award and a Guest Blog!

"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance." ~Japanese Proverb

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who voted for Summer's Song in the "Book of the Week" poll over the weekend at The Long and the Short of It. It ended up winning! So it will be featured on their website all week long (always good for a little extra promo) and I get this nifty little icon to show off:

Cool, right?

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And in other news, I'm guest blogging today at that very site - about pole dancing. Yes, that's right: a few weeks ago, some of my girlfriends and I took a pole dancing lesson just for fun.

Want to know what I thought of it? Read all about it here!

Vote Vote Vote!

Just a quick weekend announcement:

Summer's Song is up for Book of the Week at The Long and the Short of It review site ~ and I'd love your vote!

The review, 4.5 Books, is a really nice one. In part, the reviewer said, "Assumptions, misconceptions, misguided actions on the part of main and secondary characters alike, ensure the reader will stay glued to the page to the end to unravel all the intertwining threads of mystery. But when the truth is uncovered will Damien and Summer's relationship survive the fallout?

Ms. Boniface's fluid writing and vivid imagery work as strongly on the scene setting as they do on her characters, and make for a clever and intriguing read. For me this book is a keeper."

The winner of the weekend poll just gets bragging rights and a little bit of free publicity, but hey ~ I'll take it!

Hope you have a great weekend...we'll be digging out here!

Friday Fun Facts: 28 Inches of Snow and Counting!

Yes, that's right: we've been hit by the storm that's pounding the Northeast right now. It's been snowing pretty steadily since TUESDAY afternoon, and we haven't had school the last 3 days. Our county is in a state of emergency, and poor hubby has tried to keep up with plowing the driveway with mixed results. There's nowhere left to put all the snow!

I've managed to get out and take a few pictures of it, though, so here you go: a photo montage for this Friday...

Drifts (and crazy icicles!) along the front of our house

Trees along our driveway (this pic is from early yesterday)

Our driveway, early yesterday

Me standing in our backyard this morning = 28" of snow! And we're supposed to get more throughout the day...

At least this gives me lots of time to write!

Writers' Wednesday: Audio Books and Tips from Writer's Digest

"Trouble knocked on the door, but hearing laughter, hurried away." ~Benjamin Franklin

OK, let me just say, it is really really cool to hear your book read aloud by someone. I just got the audio files of Lost in Paradise, which is releasing next month in audio book, and I spent last night listening to some of it (I guess I'm actually supposed to be listening for any errors, sort of like a Final Line Edit in audio form). It's kind of like the first time I saw my writing in print, holding the actual book in my hands. Only this time I'm hearing someone else read my words. So cool!

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And from the March issue of Writer's Digest, some interesting articles, including...

"What's in a Name?" (about how authors name their characters - what do you do? a former teacher of mine, turned playwright, wanders through graveyards for inspiration, choosing a first name from this headstone, and a last name from that one...)

"Write Like Stephen King" (about how to insert suspense into your writing, in effect by dropping hints about conflicts to come down the road)

"The Reluctant Writer's Guide to Handselling Your Book" (best tip from this one: introduce yourself to shoppers by saying, "Hi, I'm today's author" and putting your book in their hands. once it's there, it's a lot harder for them to put down without at least looking at it)

Monday's Mentionables: Revising, Revising...

"You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair, the sense that you can never completely put on the page what's in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page." ~Stephen King


I'm in the process of trying to revise Entwined, with the goal of submitting it to Samhain by the end of March. Originally, it was 80K words long and I was thinking of targeting a different publisher. In the last few months, though, and especially since looking at it again, I've changed my mind. Soooooo I'm trying to go back through and tighten. It's tough, but I'm making some progress. The biggest thing I've found is that it drags in places. A lot. I haven't looked at it in probably a couple of months, which is valuable time away, because it's allowing me to cut large sections and "kill my babies."

Conflict on every page.

I read an article once that talked about this - and conflict doesn't have to be gun-slinging action or tormenting mind games. But it does have to be a nugget of intrigue that makes the reader turn to the next page. This, I've found, is what Entwined lacks the most right now. I think this is partly because I originally thought of it as a "literary romance" which means I could dwell on the lovely language rather than the forward movement of the plot (literary fiction tends to be character-driven a little more than plot-driven, allowing for that). But now I'm realizing that it lacks in compelling plot - and so this is where my focus lies now.

Bottom line: it is so important to put a draft of your book away when you finish it. You'll never get distance from it otherwise, and that distance is crucial in being objective about what it needs, and what's already beautiful :)

Have a great Monday!

Firday Fun Facts: March Madness Coming Soon!

I"m up and out the door early today for a big day at work (a big "visitation"/open house to try and draw students to our program for next year)...so just a couple of quick notes about things coming up in March:

All Romance Ebooks is running a TERRIFIC promotion on all Samhain titles during the entire month of March: a 25% rebate! Now's the time to try that ebook, or that author, if you haven't already.

The Long and the Short of It is running an Easter Egg Hunt, where you'll have to find "eggs" on authors' websites to enter for a prize...and yes, one of those eggs will be hidden somewhere on my website!

And this is happening right now: WOW- Women on Writing's February issue is all about "Falling in Love with Romance" - take a visit and check them out. They always have great articles, interviews, contests...and I notice they're actively taking submissions for upcoming issues, so this is a great chance to get your author name out there!

Happy Friday..........

Writers' Wednesday: The Kulak's Daughter

"I hear laughter, but it's not a happy sound..." ~from The Kulak's Daughter

One of the perks of being a reviewer for The Long and the Short of It is that I get to read fabulous books for free. What did I just finish? A middle grade historical fiction book called The Kulak's Daughter - and it was terrific.

Middle grade fiction targets a slightly younger audience than Young Adult, which means this book is suited for ages 12 and up. Still, I enjoyed it thoroughly from an adult perspective as well. It tells the story (based on the author's mother's life) of Olga, whose entire family is removed from their farm under the 1930 Stalin administration when the father refuses to give his land up to the "collective," communist efforts. The family ends up at Yaya, a Soviet "transition camp" which bears a stark resemblance to the Nazi concentration camps. The Kulak's Daughter tells the story of how Olga survives, against all odds, with the help of both her siblings and others who end up at the camp with her.

This book is well written, with great description that brings to life the Soviet Union under Stalin in the early 1930s. Beyond that, it's utterly realistic and heart-breaking, a glimpse into a foreign era I had no idea about. The characters and the story of how so many Russian families were displaced to Siberian work camps and transition barracks (just deplorable conditions) are truly compelling.

Honestly, this is a book published by a small press, by a debut author, that you'll probably never hear of anywhere else. But you should. Visit Gabriele Goldstone's website to find out more. I highly recommend it!

Monday Mentionables: A Weekend Away

"Where thou art - that - is Home." ~Emily Dickinson

Happy Presidents' Day!

Hubby and I spent the weekend at a Bed and Breakfast in Vermont - very charming, and very in the middle of nowhere! It's ski season here (even though there's much less snow than, say, in DC or Maryland) - and I always find it interesting the way people grow up influenced by their surroundings. We were shopping in one of the small towns nearby, and people were walking literally off the mountain in full ski gear for lunch/a break/to warm up. I used to have long conversations with a friend in grad school about this: how we're so shaped by where in the country we grow up: mountains, ocean, warmth, cold... In fact, I actually worked this notion into One Night in Napa, my upcoming release with Samhain (May 2010):

Kira took a long, satisfying drag on her cigarette and wondered how living near a certain landscape might shape you, growing up. Did children who lived in the shadows of a mountain range spend their earliest days looking up, dreaming, watching the clouds make shapes? If you moved those same children to a seaside home, would they lose that distant vision? Would they start looking out rather than up, or develop a rhythmic gait that matched the waves they slept and woke to? Did growing up inside a city of skyscrapers create tunnel vision from the day you were born? Or did living your earliest years inside gated walls mean you looked at the world in fragments, in sliced-up pieces, so that you could never see the whole of something for what it truly was?

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In other news, have you been watching the Olympics? Talk about being influenced by your surroundings - so many of these atheletes were on skates/skis on their frozen ponds in the back yard almost before they could walk!

Any favorite events?

Writers' Wednesday: A Winter Wednesday for Me!

"I read once that the ancient Egyptians had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos had a hundred words for snow. I wish I had a thousand words for love, but all that comes to mind is the way you move against me while you sleep & there are no words for that." ~Brian Andreas

Well, we missed the "Snowmageddon" that hit the south last week, but not today's storm. It's been snowing since last night before I went to bed, and it's supposed to continue at least through this evening. That means NO SCHOOL for me today (what a treat!), so I'm hoping to do some serious writing on my YA novel. I'm near the end but running into a few trouble spots. Namely, the climax isn't as intense as a scene that happens about 4 chapters earlier. Hmm. I'm trying to at least incorporate some of the original story of Lysistrata into the book, because that was part of my original idea AND because Chris Richman, an agent for Upstart Crow, just recently said "I’m generally a sucker for works that reinvent or reimagine classic works.I’d love to be able to pitch a project by saying, “It’s King Lear set on a farm in Iowa from the daughters’ perspectives” (Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres) or “It’s Beowulf…WITH MONKEYS!” Okay, maybe not that last one, but you get the point."

So that's my goal for today: churn out a couple of chapters and then go back and work on some of the problems. Maybe I should insert a zombie or two, or a Grim Reaper - from what I hear, those are going to be the next big things to replace the vampire craze. Huh. And all I have is a 16-year old who can talk to dead people. I'm doomed.......

Monday's Mentionables: Super Bowl and a Super Storm

"Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it's much more serious than that.” ~Bill Shankly

I have been woefully neglecting this blog, with everything else going on in the rest of my life: work, grading papers, trying to write, trying to promote. Ahhh!!!

Anyway, who watched the Super Bowl? I'll admit, I wasn't totally engaged, didn't really care who won, though I suppose it was nice from a symbolic standpoint that New Orleans triumphed. We spent the evening at a friend's house - it's a tradition now in its 5th year - though with a 2-year old running around with pom poms it's a little different than it used to be!

Any favorite commercials? I liked the Budweiser - Clydesdale one near the end, and I also thought the "casual Fridays" one with everyone walking around in their underwear was pretty funny. There were a couple of "man" ones (one for Dove for Men soap, one for a car) that were kinda clever too.

Miracle of miracles, we were NOT hit by "Snowmageddon" last weekend - but boy, the South has been walloped this year! I have friends from high school who moved down to VA/MD and they spent the weekend digging out from under 3+ feet of snow. "Just like the good old days..." I told them on Facebook!

Update on my YA novel: I'm at 48K words and have roughly 2-3 chapters to go. It's getting a little sticky, and I know there are some major plot points that need work, but I'm determined to stick it through to the end. Let's hope that happens sometime this week!

Writers' Wednesday: "New Adult"

I got caught up in the season premiere of LOST last night and didn't get a chance to write about this as thoroughly as I wanted to, but...

There's a new genre being tossed around by St. Martin's Press: New Adult. It's YA all grown up, apparently, with main characters college-age or a little older and a target audience of 20-28. One definition is this one: “New Adult is about young adulthood, when you are an adult but have not established your life as one (career, family, what-have-you).”

I haven't done a lot of reading on it, but here are a couple of links with more information. Will it become the next hot genre? Let me know what you think...

Guide to Literary Agents - Editor's Blog

Diana Peterfreund

Uncreated Conscience Blog: Postadolescent Fiction

Monday's Mentionables: Freebies and Contests

Here's some exciting news: as part of a Samhain Publishing promotional offer, One Night in Boston will be available as a FREE Kindle download from April 1 - 14th. Yes, that's right: if you have a Kindle, you can download my first contemporary romance novel ABSOUTELY FREE! Spread the word to your friends...and I'll be reminding you again before then!

And speaking of getting things for free, since it's February and the month for love, romance writers everywhere are offering contests and giveaways. Here are just a few:

Win a signed copy of the YA novel The Naughty List by entering your "secret agent name" on the host blog, here.

Red Sage authors are featuring an entire month of giveaways on their newly redesigned blog.

All Romance Ebooks is featuring several free reads - click here to discover a new author at no cost!

Suggest story ideas for a historical romance anthology It Happened One Season. Grand prize winner will receive a $1,000 American Express gift card and a signed copy of the book!

Finally, I'll be participating in the Brenda Novak Online Auction again this year. This is a terrific opportunity for readers, writers, and the general public to bid on a variety of items, with all proceeds going to benefit research for juvenile diabetes. I'll be donating a "One Night" basket, complete with my three autographed "One Night" books and some time-related goodies. More info to follow, so stay tuned!

Friday Fun Facts: This Day in History

"Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, 'Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.' They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us..." ~from Ronald Reagan's speech after the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster

A big thanks to Charity, who not only recommended some YA authors for me the other day, but suggested I do some Googling of YA debut authors, to find out what's selling. Let me tell you - there's a lot of them out there! There was even an article in the latest Romance Writers' Report about what you should think about when considering whether or not to attempt YA. It's definitely the hot genre right now - whether or not I'll produce anything worthwhile in it remains to be seen :)

And, just because I think it's cool, here are some random notes about this day in history:

1595 - William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed.

1845 - Edgar Allen Poe's "Raven" 1st published (NYC)

1896 - Emile Grubbe is 1st dr to use radiation treatment for breast cancer

1916 - 1st bombings of Paris by German Zeppelins takes place

1919 - Secretary of state proclaims 18th amendment (prohibition)

1936 - 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame-Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson

1951 - Liz Taylor's 1st divorce (Conrad Hilton Jr)

1958 - Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward wed

1966 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming

1983 - 40th Golden Globes: Gandhi, ET & Tootsie win

1990 - Exxon Valdez capt Joseph Hazelwood goes on trial due to oil spill


Finally, yesterday in history, Jan 28, 1986, the Challenger space shuttle exploded during liftoff. That is one of those moments you remember exactly where you were when you heard, I think. I was a freshman in high school, standing in our guidance office, when an upperclassman walked in and said, "Hey, that teacher going into space just blew up." I'll never forget it.

Writer's Wednesday: Happy Birthday up to Heaven

"In the end, I think that I will like that we were sitting on the bed, talking & wondering where the time had gone." ~Brian Andreas

Today would have been my father's 68th birthday (he passed away last January). Hey, Dad, still miss you lots...........

Monday Mentionables: Researching the World of YA

"Those awful things are survivable, because we are as indestructable as we believe ourselves to be. ... We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail." ~from Looking for Alaska by John Green

Most of my regular readers know that I've been kicking around the idea of a YA (Young Adult) novel for the last few weeks. Well, I'm still inspired, still writing, and up around 27K words after this weekend. I like my characters, my plot seems to be going the way I thought it would, so I'm pleased so far. Still waiting for the axe to fall and things to start falling apart, though...

Speaking of YA, I'm trying to do some research and reading the most popular books & authors out there on the Young Adult shelves right now. I'm almost through Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (meh...I'm lukewarm about it...it's a little simplistic for teen readers, in my opinion) - next on the pile is Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever - then something by Ally Carter - and maybe The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I've already read Meg Cabot and of course Stephenie Meyer. For me, John Green (Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns) still stands out as brilliant in the genre, along with Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak, Wintergirls).

My question for you: have you read any of these authors? What did you think? Other strong YA writers you'd recommend?

Special Writers' Weekend: An Interview with John Le Beau!

Thanks for joining me today, for a look into John Le Beau's new novel, Collision of Evil. At the end of the interview, look for a chance to win a signed copy!

Hi John ~ thanks for being here today! Can you tell us a little about your background?

Most of my adult life was spent as an intelligence operations officer in the Clandestine Service of the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. In that capacity, I spent the better part of a quarter century in intelligence work, most of it outside of the United States. I had the distinct privilege to serve with an extraordinary group of people at CIA and to work in some fascinating parts of the world. Having retired from CIA a few years ago, I am currently very engaged in my new position as a professor at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany.

Once again, I have been fortunate to associate with another highly talented, very dedicated group of professionals dealing with transnational security issues for an international audience. The Marshall Center position allows me to travel to various locations around the world and to pursue the theme of terrorism studies, which is one of the major security issues of the 21st century. At the same time, I am honored to serve as the chairman of the Combating Terrorism Working Group, a component of the Partnership for Peace Consortium.

Wow, very interesting! Now, tell us about your latest writing project or published title.

My first novel, Collision of Evil, has recently been released by Oceanview. Although I have written non-fiction pieces on intelligence activity and terrorism, this is my first venture into the world of fiction. Collision of Evil is a thriller dealing with contemporary terrorism and intelligence operations, but is also meant to link with malevolent forces from the past. The book is set in several locations, but its anchor is in the Bavarian and Austrian Alps, an area that I am well familiar with – and where I currently live – and an area that I hope will appeal to readers as something a bit exotic and exciting.

The book revolves around the investigatory work of a German Kommissar of police, who is a detective, and a CIA case officer. They enjoy an uneasy relationship, coming from two different cultures. The American is sort of in-your-face and optimistic, his German counterpart considerably more reserved, a bit irritable and perhaps pessimistic. I would like to think that this underlying tension to their relationship adds a bit of drama to the story as well!

How do you balance writing with the rest of your life?

That is not always easy – and I expect that answer likely holds true for many writers. I have daytime and fulltime responsibilities aside from writing, which means that I have to carve out time to put pen to paper. I find that I do most of my writing on weekends, when I have some blocks of time at my disposal. Of course, I do write some evenings, but that can be a bit difficult after a long day, and I do want to spend time with family members and on recreation. So, if I am working on a text in the evening, it is often really some editing, re-reading or polishing language a bit. I find that if I have a couple of hours, I can write productively.

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?

Writer’s block, so-called, can affect non-fiction as well as fictional endeavors. It can and often does stem from two things. Either you have not adequately conceptualized where you want to go with the written word in terms of coherent structure (with non-fiction) or with plot (for fiction), or you just have a feeling that that mystical and expressive, creative dimension is temporarily absent.

Both of these developments do ‘block’ the ability to write. In my own case, I find it valuable to try to discipline myself to write, even if I feel that I am not in the optimal state for that. Sitting in front of the PC, or at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a pad of paper, sort of forces you to attend to the task at hand. I will often start by refining some prose I have previously put together and that seems to transition me often into more active new writing. It is important to know what you are about to convey – to have a fairly detailed sense of where the plot is going, what a chapter is supposed to contribute to the overall storyline. I find that I sometimes outline on paper where everything is going, and how various disparate story threads need to come together to form a satisfyingly entertaining, credible and cohesive whole.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

My position at the George C. Marshall Center keeps me very busy, with lectures, leading seminar discussions, arranging security-theme programs and the like. It also has entailed a notable amount of professional travel to areas such as Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Turkey. My CIA career also required considerable international travel. So, during my free time, I am generally content to hang around in one location. We live in Garmisch, Germany and also have a residence in Austria, arguably some of the most naturally beautiful places in the world, and I am quite happy to spend time in those venues.

I love to walk and hike around and find that very rewarding. I cross-country ski in the winter as well,. We have a circle of friends, including Americans, Germans and Austrians, and I enjoy spending time in that social setting. I still like to learn, and, to be honest, I very much enjoy writing fiction; it is a real pleasure for me and rewarding in many ways. I am currently about half-way through the manuscript of a second novel and am anxious to bring it to closure. The Kommissar Waldbaer and case officer Hirter characters return, along with some new additions, some benign and some malevolent, and involve themselves in another international thriller plot. Some of this has a nautical setting, some of it takes place in Azerbaijan and Jordan, but the center of gravity is the Alps, giving Bavaria and the Austrian Tyrol their due.

John, thanks for a wonderful interview! Now, for readers, if you'd like a chance to win a signed copy of Collision Evil, simply go to John's book tour page HERE and enter your name, email, and PIN# 6772.

Entries from Allie's Musings will be accepted until 12:00 Noon (PT) tomorrow. No purchase is required to enter or to win. The winner (first name only) will be announced on his book tour page next week.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Fun Facts

NOTICE: Tomorrow I'll be featuring author John Le Beau on his book tour for his novel Collision of Evil. Here's the blurb to whet your appetite:

As evening falls against the majestic backdrop of the Bavarian Alps, Charles Hirter, an American tourist, is savagely murdered. In the peace, quiet and pastoral splendor of this magnificent setting, Charles Hirter draws his last breath. Was Charles simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Kommissar Franz Waldbaer, the German detective in charge of the case, faces an investigation that yields neither clues nor suspects nor motives. A gruff, go-it alone detective, Waldbaer is dismayed by the arrival of Robert Hirter, the victim's brother, who insists on joining the investigation. But there is more to Robert than meets the eye.

As Robert and the Kommissar uncover a nefarious nexus of evil past and evil present, they find themselves probing dark, long-forgotten episodes from the Third Reich in order to identify the present threat.

Thrust into a violent world of fanatic passions, malevolent intentions and excruciating urgency, Robert Hirter and Kommissar Waldbaer must race against the clock to stop a sophisticated, covert, and deadly plot.

Stop back tomorrow to read John's interview and enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Collision of Evil!

***

My new favorite poet/author is Brian Andreas. Have you heard of him? His quotes have been bouncing around for a while now; I just didn't know who he was until recently. Here are some of the most well-known/well-liked:

"Anyone can slay a dragon ...but try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero."

"We lay there and looked up at the night sky and she told me about stars called blue squares and red swirls and I told her I'd never heard of them. Of course not, she said, the really important stuff they never tell you. You have to imagine it on your own."

"Are you a princess? I said & she said I'm much more than a princess, but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth. "

"In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, if we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand."

"A few said they'd be horses. Most said they'd be some sort of cat. My friend said she'd like to come back as a porcupine. I don't like crowds, she said. "

Writers' Wednesday: Changing Editors

"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it." ~Mary Engelbreit

Quick update:

WC on Entwined, my "literary romance" that jumps between time periods and follows 2 love stories: 80K and finished! Now sitting for a few weeks until I go back for another revision.

WC on The Dance Club, my women's fiction novel based on the women in my Zumba class...which will probably not find a publishing house because the genre isn't selling right now: 16K.

WC on my untitled YA novel: 16K and moving along well. Funny how smoothly the writing is going. I suppose that's partly because I'm around teenagers ALL THE TIME. (Now watch me jinx myself!)

***

And in other news, I recently got the news that my editor is leaving Samhain Publishing :( She was the second editor I'd worked with there, and she edited both One Night in Napa and Summer's Song. She was tough and a stickler, and I'll miss her. I'm being reassigned to another editor, but at Samhain so much of what's published is super-hot/erotic romance, that I'm sure the Executive Editor is tearing her hair out and thinking, 'Hmm...where to put this Allie Boniface with the closed-door sex scenes??' Haha. Well, we'll see what happens. Nothing is ever certain but change!

Monday Mentionables: I Have a Dream

The biggest mentionable today, of course, is that it is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And in honor of that, here's his famous speech, "I Have a Dream". I would like to think that he was looking down from heaven last election day, heart overflowing, at the fact that this country elected its first black president. Yes, we still have a ways to come. But I see and hear the way the next generation treats each other, and there is cause for much hope that in the next years, and in the next decades, we will come that much closer to bridging the distance between all of us:

Friday Fun Facts

"The brain that doesn't feed itself, eats itself." ~Gore Vidal

Fun Fact #1: Carina Press, the new digital imprint at Harlequin, is actively seeking submissions in a variety of genres. Angela James, who used to be Executive Editor at Samhain, is heading up things at Carina, so if you submit/are accepted, you'll be in good hands.

Fun Fact #2: Merpoint is a brand new e-publisher that's also currently seeking submissions. As with any new, start-up company, proceed wth caution if you're considering submitting there.

Fun Fact#3:William Paterson University (NJ) is holding its annual one-day writers' conference on April 17, 2010, and I highly recommend it. For only $50, you get breakfast, lunch, a keynote speech, and two valuable workshops (morning and afternoon). It's one of the most affordable and useful workshops I've attended.

Fun Fact #4: The first Super Bowl was played on this day in 1967. Green Bay beat Kansas, 35-10!

Happy weekend!

Writer's Wednesday: YA and Absolute Write

"The troubles of adolescence eventually all go away - it's just like a really long, bad cold." ~Dawn Ruelas

In case I haven't mentioned it before, Absolute Write is a terrific place for writers of all genres/abilities/etc to spend time, share stories, and get feedback. They have forums for everything from perfecting your query letter to asking questions about agents and venting about your latest rejection.

Since I've been toying with the idea of writing Young Adult, I've been spending a fair amount of time lurking over there lately, reading other people's excerpts and experiences with the genre.

And speaking of that, here's a little taste from some freewriting I did the other, opening pages. I discovered (or remembered) that I really like writing in first person:

"OK, here’s the thing: I understand why my parents pulled us up by the roots. Why they moved me and Paul from the only place we’ve ever lived, the only home we’ve ever slept in, and trekked us in two U-Haul vans four hours away, to a town in the middle of Nowheresville, New York. I’m sixteen, not stupid. They can sing us their excuses until they’re blue in the face. They can tell us stories with painted-on grins that they think we can’t see through. They can explain that Dad wanted to return to the place where he grew up, and that Mom wanted to give up her crazy whirlwind of a job (the job, which, by the way, gave her a company car, trips to Europe twice a year, and enough money that Paul and I both already have four years of college paid for) and trade it for a teaching position in – what did she call it? – “a quaint small town where everyone still knows their neighbors.”

Terrific. I knew my neighbors back in Pound Ridge. I liked my neighbors. And if every town in Westchester County, with its rolling hills and old brick homes and Main Streets lit by white lights all year round, isn’t quaint, I don’t know what is. But that doesn’t matter now. None of it does, when you become That Family, the one in the neighborhood that the devil takes by the throat and turns black with the evil that seeps under all the doors, no matter how much you try to keep it away. When you become That Family, your parents move you as quickly and quietly as possible, which brings us back to why I am sitting in an empty room staring at walls painted an awful green color and wondering how my life got to this point..."

Monday Mentionables: The 2010 Promo Push

"Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days." ~Zig Ziglar

I'll admit it: I haven't done much in the way of book promotion in the last few months - well, since school begin, really. And promotion is a big part of the lifeblood of an author's success. You'll hear it in many, many places, and it's true: be prepared to do A LOT of your own promotion and marketing when you sign that publishing contract.

Now that the new year has started up in full swing, I'm trying to plan my promotion, especially since I have 2 books coming out in print and 2 coming out in audio book. Whew! Yes, of course I'm happy about all that, but it's a lot to juggle in my head.

What kinds of promotion will I do? Well, I've just ordered a slew of new bookmarks and oversized postcards for excerpt booklets, from Vista Print. I actually just got an email from a bookstore in Ohio asking me for some more booklets (I had sent them some about a year ago). I've taken out some cover ads on a couple of well-known romance reader websites and booked a few blog/author interview spots for around the time of each release.

I'll also send out press releases closer to each release date, and I'm starting to set up a few signings for the year as well. Oops! Guess that means I should update "Allie's Appearances" on my sidebar :) I'll be at the Yonkers Barnes and Noble on February 7 with some other local romance authors, and the woman who coordinates the book club in my hometown, where I've spoken the last 2 summers, just emailed to see if I'd be coming back again this year. Of course!

So...slowly but surely I am trying to get a handle on this promo thing! Now, it's off to work...

If you're an author, what kinds of promotion do you find works the best for you?

Friday Fun Facts: Tackling YA?

"Adolescence: A stage between infancy and adultery." ~Ambrose Bierce

I picked up a couple of YA novels yesterday (The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things The Truth About Forever, Paper Towns), and I have a bunch more on my list. Why? Well, I teach high school students, and I like to keep up with what they're reading. But I also (gulp) am toying with the idea of writing a YA novel. I know, I'm probably out of my mind to tackle a brand new genre. But here's the thing: I listen and talk to teens every day, 180 days of the year. I hear their voices in my head even when I'm not at school. I know the things that stir them up, I know what they do behind their parents' backs, I know what they're scared of and what they strive for.

All this, of course, doesn't necessarily qualify me to write a YA novel. However, it's a hot and growing market, and there's a local writers' conference here in April that has a YA focus this year, and I have the germ of an idea...so yes, I might just dip my toes into the water. Plus, a full-length novel only has to be 50K words minimum not the blasted 90K of an adult novel!

What do you think?

Writers' Wednesday: Three Book Reviews

I had a chance, over the long holiday break, to get through 3 books on my TBR pile. Here are my thoughts on each one:

A Summer Affair - Claire Danner Crispin, a harried housewife with 4 young children, finds herself the chair of Nantucket's summer gala, a huge fund-raising affair that requires her to rub elbows with both her modest neighbors and the elite New Yorkers who vacation there. Suddenly, she finds herself having an affair with her co-chair, questioning her devotion to being a stay-at-home mom, and longing for the innocence of her adolescence and first love (who just happens to now be a famous rock star who agrees to come and play as the headlining act at the gala). Elin Hliderbrand has an easy writing style, and it was enjoyable to get caught up in this sopa opera-type women's fiction novel. I wasn't conpletely in love with the heroine, and I thought she got out of the sticky immorality of her affair a little too easily at the end, but A Summer Affair is still an engaging book with a slew of fascinating, believable characters. I'll probably look for other books by this author.

In a Perfect World - My mom gave me this book for my birthday last month, with the warning that "It's a little weird..." I tend to agree. The story revolves around Jiselle, a former flight attendant who marries a dashing pilot and becomes stepmom to his 3 kids. The Phoenix flu is sweeping the nation, though, killing celebrities and average citizens alike, and it's only a matter of time before the herione is left alone to raise the children and deal with a changing society in the face of a terrifying plague. The most interesting thing about this book, for me, was the fact that it was so realistic, that I believed today's world could be felled by a pandemic like the fictional "Phoenix flu" before we know it. The author, Laura Kasischke, did a lot of research on the Black Plague, and it shows.

Living Dead in Dallas - This is the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse series (the TV show True Blood is based on it), and while it wasn't quite as engaging as the first, I still enjoyed it. Mostly, I love the voice of the main character, a blue-collar barmaid who can read people's minds and who's in love with a vampire. In this book, Sookie is called to Dallas to find a missing vampire, and of course she's kidnapped and almost loses her love and her friends in the process. I'm not a vampire-genre fan, but the humore and the local color in these books really pulls me in. And the main character's voice. Did I mention her voice?

Right now I'm working my way through Club Dead, the next book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, and I just borrowed Nightlight from a student. It's a Harvard Lampoon parody of Twilight, and I'm loving it so far (since I wasn't a huge fan of Twilight to begin with). Here's the back copy, just to give you a taste:

About three things I was absolutely certain. First, Edwart was most likely my soul mate, maybe. Second, there was a vampire part of him–which I assumed was wildly out of his control–that wanted me dead. And third, I unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogeneously, gynecologically, and disreputably wished he had kissed me. And thus Belle Goose falls in love with the mysterious and sparkly Edwart Mullen in the Harvard Lampoon’s hilarious send-up of Twilight. Pale and klutzy, Belle arrives in Switchblade, Oregon looking for adventure, or at least an undead classmate. She soon discovers Edwart, a super-hot computer nerd with zero interest in girls. After witnessing a number of strange events–Edwart leaves his tater tots untouched at lunch! Edwart saves her from a flying snowball!–Belle has a dramatic revelation: Edwart is a vampire. But how can she convince Edwart to bite her and transform her into his eternal bride, especially when he seems to find girls so repulsive?Complete with romance, danger, insufficient parental guardianship, creepy stalker-like behavior, and a vampire prom, Nightlight is the uproarious tale of a vampire-obsessed girl, looking for love in all the wrong places.

Have you read anything good lately?

Happy New Year!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." ~Marianne Williamson

Yes, I'm back! I know, I know, I took off last week entirely from blogging and I didn't even tell you ahead of time. Sorry. But I hope you had an enjoyable and restful holiday season, wherever and however you spent it.

Now here we are in a brand new year, 2010 (and have you heard about the minor controversy regarding how we're supposed to pronounce it? "Twenty-ten" NOT "Two thousand-ten" according to the National Association of Good Grammar, which coincidentally or not is abbreviated NAGG...hmm...). With the new year come articles everywhere you look about how to improve your life, how to make resolutions and keep them, what resolutions you're supposed to make in the first place, and on and on and on....

But I stopped making New Year's resolutions a few years back, when I realized that, honestly, just the fact that the calendar reads January 1 doesn't mean it's a better (or worse) day to begin a new chapter in my life. In fact, looking back on 2009, which was the most tumultuous year for me in a very long time, I felt even more certain about my belief that new chapters in one's life often happen when you least expect them. For me, in 2010, I'd like to continue to live in a way that makes me happy, passionate and challenged, while giving back to the world and the people around me the best ways I know how. FYI, today's quote is one of my favorites, and I'm going to do my best to remember it this year.

I'm going to continue to blog 3 days a week, and my goal is still for Monday's Mentionables to be updates on what's going on in my life and writing; Writers' Wednesday to be either author interviews or information useful/helpful to writers; and Friday's Fun Facts to simply be a day to share interesting facts about whatever's on my mind.

I hope you'll stick around with me in 2010; I have 2 print releases coming out (One Night in Napa and Summer's Song), along with 2 audio book releases (One Night in Memphis and Lost in Paradise), and fingers crossed that I will finish at least one other book and sign a contract for it as well.

In the meantime, I have 2 books up for Preditors' and Editors' "2009 Best of..." Poll: One Night in Napa and Summer's Song. If you have a chance, would you stop by and vote? Thanks! ~ and that's my only mentionable of the day. See you Wednesday!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a blessed and joyous Christmas ~ I hope all your dreams come true!

Santa and His Singing Reindeer

Here it is, a Christmas favorite. Enjoy!!

Monday Mentionables

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life." ~Mark Twain

Mentionable #1: It's the first day of my winter break! This is actually quite unusual, to have 2 full weeks off from school. Usually we teach until the 22nd or 23rd, at least. But we started soooo early this year (before Labor Day), that I guess we're enjoying the trade-off now. Of course, I have a list of things I want to accomplish over the break, including a fair amount of writing. We'll see how that goes. We'll be heading to Florida after Christmas; maybe the warm(er) weather will inspire me!

Mentionable #2: We escaped the worst of the winter storm over the weekend, thankfully, since we threw a big holiday party Saturday night. We watched the weather report in anticipation, but the storm hit south of us, and we really only ended up with a couple inches of snow after it was all over with. Thank goodness.

Mentionable #3: I really hope to be able to spend some time reading over this break, since I've already gotten a few books for my birthday (last week) and early Christmas. On my bedstand right now: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Comeback, A Summer Affair, In a Perfect World, The Mysterious Benedict Society, Socrates in Love.

Have you read any of them?

Friday Fun: An Excerpt from The Dance Club

OK, here it is as promised: an unedited excerpt from The Dance Club, the as-yet non-planned-for-publication book based on my adventures at the gym with my girlfriends. Part chick lit, part women's fiction, part nonfiction, all fun to write so far.

Lola leaned over and read aloud. “New dance class starting January tenth. Lose weight and have fun while learning all the hottest Latin steps.” She smiled. “C'mon. let’s try it. We don’t have anything to lose.”

Roxy sighed. “Girls, I’m a friggin’ trainwreck when it comes to dancing. Or anything that requires rhythm and counting. I think I’m gonna skip this one.”

Zoe waved the slip of paper in front of her friend’s face. “C’mon! You’re gonna pass up a chance to spend an hour looking at a hot piece of South American ass? No way. I know you better than that. We all do.”

Roxy frowned. “You think he has an accent? Like one of those really sexy ones where you can’t really understand what he’s saying but it all sounds good anyway?”

Soleil rejoined them and set down her coffee. “He does. I heard him talking to some little redhead in the lobby when I was picking up the flyers.”

“Is it sexy?” Roxy asked. “I mean, really, like, to-die-for sexy?”

Soleil blew on her coffee and smiled. “There’s only one way to find out, right? First class meets next Monday night. What d’ya say?”

###

“Check out the blonde in the front,” Roxy whispered. “What is she, six feet tall? She looks like a giraffe.”

Lola laughed out loud and then slapped a hand over her mouth. “You’re awful.”

“I’m just making an observation.” Roxy turned in a slow circle and surveyed the rest of the room. “And what’s up with the geriatric group in the corner? Damn, I thought I was old.”

“You aren’t old,” Soleil said. “You aren’t even close.” She adjusted her t-shirt and stared woefully at her chest. “I’m having these done the summer I turn forty. I told you all that, right?”

“You’re crazy,” Lola said. “I’ll get a facelift before I’ll get a boob job any day.”

“That’s because you already have boobs.” The voice came from behind them, and all three turned as Zoe skipped into the room.

“I hate you,” Roxy said.

“Why?”

“Look at you.” Lola poked her friend in the ribs. “There’s nothing to you. You’re beautiful. Perfect. You don’t need to lose weight.”

“I need to tone up. Plus I want to see this hot dance instructor.” Zoe glanced around. “Where is he?”

The stocky Chinese woman standing beside them shrugged. A pair of brunettes in matching pink sweatsuits, hoop earrings, and full makeup craned their necks in the direction of the door. A balding man dressed in fatigues and another thirty-something woman with a belly hanging out over too-tight sweatpants made up the rest of the crowd.

“Huh.” Soleil looked around. “Kind of a motley crew, aren’t we?”

“Well, it’s only the first night. And the place has only been open a few weeks. But you were right. It’s nice.” Roxy waved a hand at the polished floorboards and the mirrors that covered three of the four walls. “I’m loving the juice bar in the lobby, too. Think they’d slip a little vodka into one of those smoothies if I paid extra?”

Writers' Wednesday: What Am I Working On?

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." ~Scott Adams

I only have time for a quick post today, but I thought I'd share my 2 current projects (of course, they haven't gotten a lot of attention in the last couple of weeks since it's finals week for the College English classes I teach, which means piles of research papers and in-class essays everywhere calling my name). But beyond the final grade submission deadline, I have 2 glorious weeks of holiday break, and I'm hoping to make some headway on...

Entwined, my literary romance which right now is about 75K words long and really, really needs to be wrapped up and just finished already. It's been just about a year that I've been working on it, and while the end is in sight, I also know it needs some serious revision work beyond that end. Still, I really want to finish the last 10 chapters and then just let it sit for a month or so. Then I can move on to...

The Dance Club, a silly something I started a couple of weeks ago that is based solely on my experiences with my girlfriends at our Zumba class. There are about 5 of us who've become quite close, and they keep asking me to write a book with their/our stories, so I sat down, sketched out some ideas, and started writing. I don't know that I will even try to publish it - it will probably resemble chick lit (which is dead in the publishing world) or maybe women's fiction (which still has a chance). Either way, it's just for them, and I'm having fun at this point, only 5K words in. Friday I'll post an excerpt...until then, have a great week!

Monday Mentionables: From a Cat's Perspective

"Time spent with cats is never wasted." ~Sigmund Freud

My owner, Allie Boniface, is taking a break from blogging today, so I told her I'd fill in for her. I mean, I've been around for over 14 years, and I've lived with her for 13 of those 14, so I have a pretty good idea of what she'd say, anyway. But today, I'd like to talk about why it's good to be a cat around the holidays...

First of all, if you have the chance to get a brand new scratching device of any kind, take full advantage of it. Make sure to lick your chops several times (yes, that's my tongue hanging out) before tasting it for fresh catnip.

And just in case your owner is not particularly quick at adding catnip, you can meow and wind yourself around her legs to remind her why it's your FAVORITE treat EVER.

It is especially invigorating to dig right in and sharpen those claws...

Though if a friend comes along and wants to try it out too, it's okay to let him. Just keep an eye on him.

Sometimes, in fact, those friends can be quite comforting and warm, especially when the temperatures get a little frosty! That's when it's best to remember the advantages of cuddling.

Finally, don't ever underestimate your importance when it comes to interior decorating. I have given several pieces of advice regarding the tree over the years - and as you can see by looking closely here, this year I needed to sit atop the ladder while my owners were hanging the lights to really have my say.

Guess that's all for today. Time for a nap in the sun...

Friday Fun Facts

"It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." ~W.T. Ellis

Fun Fact #1: We have our Christmas tree up! Of course, it still needs to be decorated (I hope this evening), but it's found a very nice place in our living room amid the other holiday decorations.

Fun Fact #2: I was pleasantly surprised by my royalty report from Samhain. Now, December is one of the biggest paying months, since there are print royalties from the summer along with both electronic and print royalties from a bunch of other distributors, but still...it was nice to see that I can afford more than dinner and a movie this month :) Note: it definitely pays to keep publishing books. The more you have in circulation, the higher the royalties are. It seems that would go without saying, but it's worth mentioning.

Fun Fact #3: WOW-Women on Writing is featuring Literary Agents this month - how to get 'em, what they're looking for, and how they work. Check it out!

Writers' Wednesday: An Ebay Auction for You

"Any proverbs about weather are doubly true during a storm." ~Ed Northstrum

Well, I'm sitting at home enjoying the first snow day of the season...yes, there are some perks that come along with this teaching job! Although I do have a stack of research papers to grade (not to mention contest entries for my local RWA that are close to being overdue...yikes!). However, I'll take the day off to lounge around in my pjs and grade when and where I want to, anytime!

***

Spotted this interesting Ebay Auction the other day. Irene Goodman, a very well-known, very successful, and very selective literary agent, is offering 25 manuscript critiques. She's auctioning them off on Ebay with proceeds to benefit two different charitable organizations, in part because her own son suffers from a degenerative disease that will eventually take away his sight and hearing.

The auctions (and there are 25 separate ones, one for each critique) run through tomorrow, December 10th, if you're interested in bidding. Last time I checked, each was up around $300.00, which seems a little pricey, but keep in mind that if you have the money, this is a great way to get your first 50 pages + synopsis in front of a very savvy agent who will give you honest feedback about what you need to do to improve it/make it marketable. It's not a chance to pitch your work (well, of course in one respect it is) as much as a chance to have someone in the industry honestly assess it and give you direction for revisions.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. If you decide to bid, let me know! And now I'm off to make some hot cocoa and curl into my chair while the snow comes down outside...

Monday Mentionables: The First Reviews of Summer's Song!

The first reviews of Summer's Song are in, and well, let's just say that I'm reminded yet again of how subjective readers can be.

It got 4.5/5 stars from Single Titles review site (apparently a new sub-site of the well-known CataNetwork review site). In part, the reviewer said, "Summer's Song is an engrossing story about hidden pasts, lost memories, and finding love despite everything else. Summer is a complex character who you will grow to care about; her vulnerability is beautifully described throughout the story. Damian, the protector, is compelling as you read his internal struggle with his attraction to Summer..."

You can read the whole review here.

Then, it got killed - and I mean slaughtered - by Mrs. Giggles, who is notorious for her snark but up to this point didn't really destroy my books. Until now. She hated the bookSummer's Song and gave it a 56/100, claiming it was entirely too melodramatic from start to finish. Ouch. The tagline she has posted on her website is the tiniest preview: "Wow, lots of angst and drama here. Everyone has at least two issues to deal with in this story. I don't know why nobody has attempted to put down the hysterical heroine, however. "

If you want to read the whole thing, 5 miserable paragraphs about how awful my heroine is, then go ahead. You can read it here.

And in the meantime, I will be off toughening up my skin...