You Just Never Know...

"People die in front of us everyday. But I believe Meredith will survive this. I believe, I believe, I... I believe in the good. I believe that it's been a hell of a year and I believe that, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that we will be okay. I believe a lot of things. I believe that... I believe that Denny is always with me... and I believe that if I eat a tub of butter and no one sees, that the calories don't count. And I believe that surgeons who prefer staples over stitches are just lazy. And I believe that you are a man that made a terrible mistake marrying Callie and I believe that because I'm your best friend I can tell you this and we can be okay. I believe that even though you made this mistake you will be okay. I believe we survive, George. I believe that believing we survive... is what makes us survive."
~from "Grey's Anatomy"


Update: I sent a query for the newly re-titled Lost in Paradise to The Wild Rose Press yesterday morning, and by the afternoon I had received a request for the partial. So that’s encouraging.

What was even nicer is that the editor remembered me (I had submitted One Night in Boston to her as well, back when I was querying a few places simultaneously). She congratulated me on the upcoming publication with Samhain and welcomed a look at my new work.

I sent off the partial…now we’ll wait and see!

Any Grey's Anatomy fans out there? What did you think of last night's episode? A tear-jerker, for sure, but I sort of felt manipulated....like, here's another week where Meredith whines about her "awful" life. This time we had to spend an entire hour watching her discover that, really, dating McDreamy and having good friends and a challenging career isn't the most terrible thing in the world. Does anyone else want to tell her to get over herself?

Best part of the whole show. by far: seeing Denny again, especially the moment when he and Izzie touch at the end. Magic.

Happy weekend!

Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out...

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."

~Alan Cohen

So I made the decision to terminate my publishing contract with Virtual Tales.

There were a few reasons, really, one of which was that, despite the fact that they don’t have many stories up for sale on their site (they’re relatively new), it was taking them *forever* to draft me a cover or send me my first round of edits. And believe me, I know how slow the publishing process can take, but I’ve been lucky enough to have some experience now with Samhain, and it’s just a completely different story.

I also want to market my story in more ways than just an e-serial, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that with the electronic rights tied up at VT. Honestly, when I first queried them, I didn’t think the story would develop as much as it did. I thought I’d end up with 30K words, tops. Now I’m at 55K and I love it, I want more, I want to see it in print.

The nice thing is that the publisher let me out of my contract without any problem and waived the 90-days notice as well, so I have all my rights back ASAP.

The funny thing is that it took him less than 8 hours to remove everything from the website: my bio, my promo page, my name under the authors’ listings. And we're talking an overnight wonder: I emailed him at 10:00 pm (my time; I think he's on the West Coast), and when I checked at 7:30 the next morning, it all was gone. Maybe if they’d moved that fast with everything else, I’d still be working with them!

Oh, well. I know it’s the right decision. But now I’m back to the beginning with marketing Paradise, USA--which I thinking of renaming Lost in Paradise, by the way. What do you think?

A Very Blah Day

I have nothing the least bit interesting to say today, other than to tell you that I’m struggling with a decision to terminate one of my e-pub contracts. It’s a long story, and I’ll fill you in sometime when I have the energy.

I watched all 2 hours of American Idol last night because I was too tired to do anything else (and I hate wasting time like that, but sometimes it happens)…and was anyone else bored? Tip to the guys, no matter how good-looking you are: don’t pick a love song and then come out so frozen by nerves that no one can hear you sing the lyrics.

(It’s fun being an armchair critic, isn’t it??)

Here's a meme for you...play along!

Hypotheticals: If you could bathe in a vat of any drink or food item, what would you choose? Chocolate, no question.

Anything Goes: What world-changing event would you like to take credit for? Women's suffrage. I think Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are the bomb.

No-Brainers: What song do you keep hearing over and over again? For some reason, "Not Ready to Make Nice" by the Dixie Chicks.

Personals: What are you most proud of? Oh gosh, two things: my teaching career and the fact that I have amazing relationships with so many of my former students; and my writing career and the fact that it's progressing toward publication.

The End...Or Is It??

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
- Cyril Connolly

Story endings: I find them incredibly difficult.

Some of my writing friends love them; they claim that the ending is sometimes the only thing that’s absolutely clear in the whole novel-writing process.

Not me.

I mean, sure, I have a general idea of where I want my characters to end up, but I stumble over the wording when I get there.

This weekend, for example, I was revising an ending for a novel that’s been about 4 years in the making. I finally got all the plot points worked out, but then I couldn’t decide if I wanted a flip, upbeat ending, or a more serious, God-I-can’t-believe-how-much-I-love-you ending. Either one would work with the tone of the novel, I think.

What do you think makes a good ending, especially in a love story? Do you like to see everything revealed and tied up neatly? Or is it okay if something’s left to the imagination?

Are there any stories you can think of where the ending stayed with you because it was so memorable, or so well done? Or, are there any stories where you felt supremely let down by the ending? (Yes, Marianne, I know: every Nicholas Sparks book. :) )

Oh, and in honor of last night’s new Prison Break episode, a yummy picture of the brothers to enjoy all day long:

My Schizophrenic Weekend

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
- Groucho Marx

Hubby and I love to travel, but we spent this Presidents’ Weekend at home this year, working around the house (him), writing (me), and doing our taxes (both).

And for some reason I decided I would tackle every writing project that’s on my four burners right now. Though I felt at times as though I had major mulitple personality disorder, I did get some good writing accomplished. Just to bring you up to date, here’s what on my plate right now:

Paradise, USA - This is the serial novella that’s been contracted by Virtual Tales. I’ve been emailing back and forth with my editor about the cover, which I think should be in the last stages of completion. I also worked on revising the last half of the story, since she only has the first half because that’s how this publisher works. I still love this story; I love the characters and I love what happens to them. I did run into a little snag near the HEA, only because I'm not happy with how the last few pages unfold, but I'll get it.

One Night in Boston - This is the full-length "24 hour romance" novel that’s been contracted by Samhain Publishing. I haven’t gotten the edits back from this editor, so the only thing I had to do was finalize the promotional blurb for her. That will probably be up on their website in a few weeks. Oh, you can also take a peek at my author's page, here.

One Night in Memphis - This is another full-length, “24 hour” romance that I’m really pushing to finish by June 1 to submit to Samhain. I would love another contract with them and am crossing my fingers that the 24-hour concept will catch on among readers. I’m about 1/3 of the way through this one, though I have an earlier draft (from a couple years ago) that I’m working with, so it’s not all brand new. Just most of it!

Summer’s Song - Finally, this is a single title romance that I wrote about 4 years ago. I shopped it briefly and had some interest from a couple of publishing houses, but no offers. I still really like this story and think I’ve figured out a way to make it stronger, so I spent some time this weekend working on the outline and the characters. I plan on shopping this one to traditional print houses and would love to have something complete by the fall.

So…that’s what I did this weekend! I feel good about my progress but, again, more than a little split between projects. I'm not really good at it, nor do I like it. I'd rather focus on one thing at a time. But that's not always possible.

What about you? If you're a writer, are you able to shift between projects? Or do you need to finish one before moving on to another? And if you're a reader, can you read multiple books at onc? Do you have a novel in the bedroom, one in the living room, and another in your bathroom? Do you have any problem picking up and moving from storyline to storyline?

One Last Love Story

"The best love is the kind that awakens the soul, that makes us reach for more, that plants the fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds."

~from "The Notebook"

So with all this talk on my blog this week about romantic movies and love and Valentine’s Day, I can’t believe I forgot to mention The Notebook. This is probably the only story where I actually preferred the movie to Nicholas Sparks’ book.

Talk about true love! If you haven’t seen this one, I definitely recommend it. (It turned me into a huge Ryan Gosling fan, too).

And so here’s a little something for your viewing pleasure. Happy weekend!

Why I Run

"It doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop."
~Lao-Tzu

Many of you probably know that I’m a runner. The definition of that varies day to day, from “person who jogs a few miles after school to clear her head” to “person who ate too many cookies over the weekend and needs to burn off some calories” to “person who is more than slightly insane to take on the elements on days when no one else is outside.”

This past weekend I fell into the third category. I ran a 5K (that’s 3.1 miles) with about 220 other insane people in temperatures that hovered around 20 but felt more like 5 with the wind chill. And as I headed up the last hill, lungs frozen and breath catching in my throat and legs feeling about one hundred pounds each, that familiar thought popped into my head: Why I am doing this?

Fortunately, that thought shows up quite a bit but never stays around long, because I know the answer.

I run because I always feel better when I finish. Maybe not always physically (though I’d say 80% of the time I do), but mentally and emotionally? Always. I know there’s a physiological explanation for it: the endorphins shoot off inside my brain like little drugs and give me some kind of high. But it still amazes me that the simple act of moving can change my mood 180 degrees.

It amazes me that when I cross the finish line of whatever race I’m running, whether I’m first in my age group or somewhere in the middle of the pack or near the end, I feel such a sense of accomplishment. It amazes me that I feel most beautiful when I am sweaty and flushed, with my hair stuck to my face and a t-shirt stuck to my back.

I wish more people could experience it. I hope, if you’re not a runner, you have something that revs you up, that chases away your blues, that inspires your creative juices, the way running does for me.

It’s so simple: put on a pair of running shoes and step outside. Yet it’s so complex: it changes your body, your mind, your spirit. Because if you can run ______ (fill in the blank here: to the mailbox, down the street, a mile, a 10K, a marathon), imagine what else you might do.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

"You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip."

~Jonathan Carroll, "Outside the Dog Museum

Hey, everyone, I'm blogging today at Romancing the Blog...drop by and leave a comment!

Well, it finally arrived: the winter storm that's been blasting the rest of the country, and just in time to deliver a lovely Valentine's Day gift: a snow day from school for hubby and me! Now, if you're an educator (or even if you remember those blissful days from childhood when the radio crackled the school closings while you waited at the breakfast table with crossed fingers), you know the treat that early morning phone call brings.

And on a Wednesday!

And on Valentine's Day!

And two days before a holiday weekend!

Speaking of the world of education, one of my writing friends sent me a hilarious email yesterday, that I have to reprint here. Hope you'll get a kick out of it. I did.

And if you found your way here from RTB today, thanks for stopping by! Make sure to check out my website and sign my guestbook for a chance at the February giveaway (it involves Lindt chocolates... need I say more??)

Finally, have a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day, wherever you are and whatever you're doing. Cheers!!

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND---The Football Version

1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the championship. If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after two years they have not won the championship their footballs and equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.

2. All kids will be expected to have the same football skills at the same time even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of interest in football, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents. ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!
3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without instruction. This is because the coaches will be using all of their instructional time with the athletes who aren't interested in football, have limited athletic ability or whose parents don't like football.

4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th, 8th, and 11th game. It will create a New Age of Sports where every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child gets left behind.

Covers and Things

"Two souls and one thought, two hearts and one pulse."
~Halen

Yesterday I shared 9 “movies about love” that our local paper featured, but I forgot to mention which I’d seen and enjoyed. So here you go:

“Beaches” Saw it and wept. Wouldn’t watch it again.
“Citizen Kane”
“Driving Miss Daisy”
“Field of Dreams” Have seen it multiple times. Definitely a ++ recommendation for anyone who hasn’t seen it (that means you, Judy!)
“Harold and Maude”
“Lost in Translation” Keep meaning to rent this one…
“Mary Poppins” Of course! I knew all the words to all the songs, as a child.
“Pay It Forward” A good one, not a big box office draw but really touching. Sad ending, though,
“Rain Man” Another “of course!” Loved both Cruise and Hoffman in this one.

###

Yesterday I saw the “first attempt” of my cover for Paradise, USA (my editor’s wording, not mine). So I’m not really sure if that means I get input on it, or not. But let me tell you, it was so weird to see someone else’s conception of what my main characters look like!

Ash is perfect, just the way I imagined her. But Eddie? My dashing, drop dead gorgeous, sexy, to-die-for hero? So different than the guy who’s been inside my head for the last 5 years. Taller, and thinner, and with much longer hair. Long hair! Where did that come from? He’s got a great six-pack, though, and he’s looking at Ash with one hell of a smoldering gaze, so I can’t complain too much.

I did email my editor back with a couple of thoughts, but we’ll see if anything changes. From what I’ve heard, authors don’t get too much say on their novels’ artwork. I don’t really mind; it has the title and my name on the front: a first-time novelist’s dream come true. What more do I need?

Incidentally, do you let the cover art of a book influence your visualization of the characters, once you start reading? If there’s already a picture of the H/H done for you, do you stick to that artist’s conception? Or do you form your own instead?

A Good Weekend

"I get by with a little help from my friends."
~ John Lennon

So this past Saturday, I hopped into my little salt-covered car and drove about an hour to check out the closest RWA chapter. After getting lost twice, I finally arrived…and really enjoyed myself, overall.

I’ve been lucky enough to develop such good working relationships with online writing friends, that the idea of meeting and discussing and critiquing with people *in the flesh* seemed almost odd.

Not to worry. It was nice to be in a room with 8 other people who write romance and are at various stages in the publishing pipeline. Interesting discussion, honest feedback on ms. pages, and an easy camaraderie that comes from having a common element. I’m hoping this will be the beginning of a good year with this group.

###
In our local paper over the weekend was a list of movies to “warm your heart without romance.” ("Each of these stories is about true love, for sure, just not the cliché kind…")

So tell me: which of these have you seen and enjoyed? Which would you recommend to someone else, and which would you watch again?

“Beaches”
“Citizen Kane”
“Driving Miss Daisy”
“Field of Dreams”
“Harold and Maude”
“Lost in Translation”
“Mary Poppins”
“Pay It Forward”
“Rain Man”

TGIF

"True love comes quietly, without banners or flashing lights. If you hear bells, get your ears checked."
~Erich Segal

Wow! Grey’s Anatomy certainly handed us a cliff-hanger last night. A little bit of everything, too: drama, humor, romance, suspense (and what’s up with that near-catatonic blonde girl hanging around Meredith?) Was I the only person who couldn’t look straight at the face of the pregnant woman crushed under the pylon? Yikes.

So, I recently had to write up a promotional blurb for One Night in Boston, and when my editor sent it back with a few wording changes yesterday, I got a peek at my tentative e-pub release date: July of this year. Exciting! And the print version comes out 3 months after the online release. So it looks as though (fingers crossed) you might be able to put it on your Christmas list for 2007!

Any interesting plans for the next couple of days?? I’m just trying to stay warm--it’s been in the single digits all week. At least there’s very little snow on the ground, so when the deer come to feed in our front lawn (there were 4 last night), they actually look as though they’re finding something.

Happy Weekend!

The Writer's Life

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
~Ray Bradbury

I joined Writers Village University about 5 years ago, when I decided to take the plunge and see if writing was a hobby or something I really wanted to devote more time to (can you guess which I discovered?) And really, it’s been a great experience. I haven’t taken advantage of the classes they offered as much as I could have, but the writing groups I joined turned out to be invaluable in helping me grow as a writer. Sometimes I still marvel at the way you can become such good friends with people you’ve never seen or met in person.

Anyway, the other day one of the women who’s been in and out of one study group emailed me--she’s the columnist for WVU’s partner ezine, T-Zero, and she asked if she could interview me for an upcoming issue:

…All of us unpublished writers want to know how it feels to see our words in print and long to learn what it takes to live the writer’s life. Give us a taste of your achievement…

It was a surreal request, really, because sometimes I really don’t think of myself as someone that other writers would want to read about. The writer’s life, I’m finding, is not that much different after I signed contracts than before. The only difference is that I feel busier than ever! But I’m flattered all the same, and in thinking about her questions, I decided that this is what I would tell anyone who’s unpublished:

Be persistent, and believe in yourself. There are so many times on the lonely writing journey when it would be much easier to give up. Many times when you could spend an afternoon watching movies or working in the garden or curling up with a good book instead of struggling with your own. Many times, especially if you’re in the query pipeline, that you’d rather toss out all those rejection letters along with your stupid manuscript which is never going to be any good at all, and dive into a pint of ice cream for solace. Don’t.

Writing is hard work. It takes more time and self-discipline and dedication than you might ever imagine. But you can’t let the frustrating times get you down so low that you stop altogether. If you want to write, write. If you want to be published, learn everything you can about your target market and the business and the craft itself. Then come up with the best story you can think of, the one that makes you fall in love with the characters every time you think about it, and write it. Enlist the help of others: friends, family, fellow readers and writers, support groups. Revise your work until you can’t stand to look at the words anymore. Find new agents, new editors, new markets. But don’t give up.

Believe me, you never, ever know when you’ll have that one opportunity, when that single editor or agent will tell you they love your ideas and can’t wait to work with you. And when it happens, you’ll be over the moon.

I'm Cheating Today

"Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat."
~ Mark Twain

Since I have a huge presentation at work today (tonight, actually), today's blog won't be about much of anything at all. I've been writing, yes, and doing some marketing and publicity, yes, but those updates will have to wait 'til another day.

In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure:

my cats, sunning themselves on the loveseat yesterday…

and a fun read that Marianne had up on her blog a few days ago (it's worth a rerun)...

FOR PET LOVERS -

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats, The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.

2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"nature.)

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: In many ways, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less

2. Don't ask for money all the time

3. Are easier to train

4. Normally come when called

5. Never ask to drive the car

6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends

7. Don't smoke or drink

8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions

9. Don't want to wear your clothes

10. Don't need a "gazillion" dollars for college.

And finally,

11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

Sex or the Story??

"If sex doesn't scare the cat, you're not doing it right."
(Anonymous)

Okay, I have to know: how many of you read romance for the sex? And how many for the story?

See, here’s the thing: I don’t write sex. I write a few scenes that might involve a kiss or two, a touch, some want, but I don’t delve into the bedroom scenes like I know a lot of romance authors do.

Why not? Well, I suppose it’s just not my M.O. I’m way more interested in the emotion of two characters getting together than the mechanics. I’ve read too many romance novels where the love, and the entire storyline, took a back seat to the scenes of “lust-driven pleasure” and “his quivering member” and “desire feathering up her spine.” And honestly, it’s a reason I resisted categorizing myself as a “romance author” for a long time.

I also have a hard time finding sex scenes that actually make me appreciate the moment and not cringe at the writing, so I’m less than inspired to try it myself. It seems as though clichés run rampant in romance novels, [see above] and when I’m reading them, I just want them to be over, so we can get back to the plot moving forward and some interesting dialogue.

I like happy endings. I like watching characters struggle through conflict to be together. I like desire that strings you along. I like painful separation and exhilarating reunion. And while, sure, sex can play a satisfying part of the coming together (no pun ended), I’m just not interested in spending time writing about it. But I think that puts me in the minority of romance writers.

So back to my original question: do you read romance for the sex, or for the story? Or both?

Football Heroes and Defensive Driving

When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team.
~George Raveling

Well, I was happy to see the Colts win the Super Bowl last night and Peyton Manning finally win his first championship. I remember him from his days playing at Tennessee, and I did always like him. Plus he's a cutie, and he and his brother rolled up their sleeves and helped out New Orlean a lot after Hurricane Katrina last year.


Hey, how many romance novels do you think feature pro atheletes as the hero? I remember this discussion on a blog somewhere a while back, and I think the answer was close to zero, for a variety of reasons: they have no time, they're too in love with themselves, they aren't the "typical" romantic hero in our society. What do you think?

###########

OK, so somehow I let my husband convince me to take a defensive driving class, the next two Monday nights. Yeah, yeah, I know it will lower our car insurance. But the last thing I want to do on a Monday night in February is spend 3½ hours watching videos of car crashes and listening to someone talk about the correct way to pass and merge.

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be so irritated about it. It’s a good thing, right? Everyone should probably be mandated to take the course, on a regular basis. ‘Cause I’m pretty sure those women driving their SUVs down the road while on their cell phones and checking on their kids in the back seat and weaving in and out of lanes at 85 miles an hour could use a reminder about safe driving.

But Monday night?? Now I have to miss Prison Break (and you *know* how much that pains me). I'll be sitting there listening to strategies for safe merging and dreaming of Wentworth Miller heating up the screen with his doctor love. Darn it.

Winter Weather (or not)

"There are only two seasons: winter and baseball."

~Bill Veeck

Hey all, if you didn’t get a chance to see it, my article on character development is up at WOW. I love what they did with the graphics and the pics ,too. Very cute. Got an email from the editor yesterday afternoon telling me one of their regular writers saw it and mine was the first article she read in the Feb. issue. She loved it!

In other news, all the teachers and students around here spent yesterday hoping for snow to fall and cancel school today ( it didn‘t). See, with the crazy warm temperatures we’ve had so far this season, we haven’t had a single school closing.

Now let me digress: I grew up in central NYS, smack in the middle of the lake effect snow belt. Then I spent 6 years in college and graduate school living in 2 cities on the Great Lakes. More lake effect snow. So when you talk about winter to me, it means temps below zero and wind chill WAY below zero. It means shoveling snow from November to March and having at least 2 ice scrapers and 3 extra pair of gloves in the car at all times. It means learning to take your driver’s test when you’re 16 on snow-covered roads, and mastering the art of the controlled skid, because otherwise you’ll have to wait months to get your license. It means the kind of cold where, when you breathe in, the inside of your nose crinkles up.

It does not mean, as people in my newly adopted hometown think, 3 inches of snow that falls in one night. It does not mean temperatures that flirt with zero overnight and then inch their way up to 30 during the day. It does not mean school closings for 2 days straight because the towns can’t manage to plow the roads.

When I was growing up, one of the most familiar sounds in the wee hours of the morning was the plow going down the street, scraping it clear and taking out people’s mailboxes on the way (we had to get a new one every spring). School never closed. Ever. Are you kidding? We would have missed ¾ of the days from December to February.

But here? We get an average of 5 snow days each year. And don’t even get me started on 2-hour delays. 6 a year? 10? No limit, apparently. I’d never even heard of the concept of the 2-hour school delay until I moved here. I guess it allows the plow drivers to sleep in until 5 or so and get the roads clear by 9, so that the buses can lumber on to school and collect their state aid for the day.

One time a couple of years ago (this is the best), every school in the county closed because of the threat of a storm. Guess what? Not a single flake fell.

Sorry for the tirade, but sometimes I just have to laugh. OK, have at it: what does “winter” mean to you??

Happy Weekend!

P.S. - If you haven’t signed my guestbook yet, what are you waiting for???

Today's the Day!

“Do everything with so much love in your heart that you would never want to do it any other way.”
~Yogi Desai

Today’s the day! My article about character building is supposed to be up at WOW. Of course, I jumped out of bed extra early this AM to see, and the February issue hasn’t been posted yet, but maybe by the time you read this, it will be. So check for me, OK?

Meanwhile, Marianne has a fun meme going on at her place, so drop by there, too!

Sign My Guestbook!

“Real love stories never have endings.”
~ Richard Bach

My goodie bag arrived yesterday from WOW, for earning an honorable mention in their Fall Flash Fiction contest. Too cute!




Update to yesterday's news about my guestbook:

Anyone who signs it during the month of February (and yes, this means those of you who lurk out there too) will be automatically entered into a drawing for a giveaway of freebies which will include…

Lindt chocolates (come on, it’s the month of Valentine’s Day…what did you think?)
AND
James Patterson’s best-selling novel Honeymoon
AND
A $5.00 gift certificate to Virtual Tales, so when my serial novel Paradise USA is released, you’ll be able to get about half the installments for free!

Now isn’t that worth stopping by and leaving me a comment? Spread the word to your friends and fellow bloggers, too.

And have a great day!

What Are You Up To?

“Remind yourself that the book you’re bogged down in was once bright and sparkling.”
(JoAnn Ross)

Well, Prison Break was only so-so last night. [Still, it gives me an excuse to post pics of Wentworth Miller on my blog :) ] Looks like, from the previews, that next week’s episode will be action-packed, though. Good thing!




I’m adding a guestbook to my website (and the link is here, too, on my sidebar), with a little incentive: anyone who signs it during the month of February will qualify for a freebie giveaway (and given that February is Valentine’s Day month, you can pretty much guarantee that at least part of the giveaway will have something to do with chocolate). So scurry on over there, and I’ll count anyone who signs it today and tomorrow in the February pool too. Giveaway to be posted later this week, so stay tuned!

I’m loving my interaction with Samhain Publishing, by the way. They have a terrific editorial team, along with several author chat groups on Yahoo and wonderful resources posted in the files there as well. I’ll post some periodically to share.

How about you? How’s your writing going? Anything new? Digging out the old to dust off and revise? I was skimming my latest Romance Writers Report, which arrived yesterday, and came across an author interview in which the author warned against not finishing manuscripts just because they get hard somewhere in the middle. Unfinished manuscripts will always be unpublished manuscripts, or something like that.

Well said! Now tell me what writing project you’re working on these days…

So How Old Is Old, Really?

There is a place you can touch a woman that will drive her crazy. Her heart.
~ Melanie Griffith, Milk Money

Is there a moment, somewhere in your past, that you look back on once in a while? Is there a day you yearn for? Is there an hour you’d capture, pin down, try to do again? Do you remember what it was like to look on the person you’d fall in love with someday and be left breathless with that desire of first glance? Do you recall the power in being a child, on the young side of twenty, looking forward and holding tight and leaping without knowing what was waiting for you but wanting, more than anything, to do it all with the person beside you?

Sometimes I think that’s why we read romance--and why we write it. To remember those awesome, and sometimes awful, sweeping emotions that knock us over. That exhaust us. That exhilarate us. It is amazing to me how the details of everyday life, how jobs and families--as wonderful as they are--can carry us so far away from the magic falling in love.

With the high school quarterback. With the gorgeous rock star. With the boy next door. With our first true love. With our second one. With our first sex. With the bad boy. With the good one. With the one who’ll eventually get down on one knee and ask us to stay.

With ourselves.

###
Now that my contracts are in with Samhain, I have all this work to do: put together a promotional blurb, choose an an excerpt, write up tips and requests for my cover art, send a bio to their site for my author’s page. It’s still all a little surreal to me. Who knew that having a manuscript accepted was just the teeniest bit of the iceberg? It’s exciting but overwhelming too.

###
A funny story from work: last week my high school seniors read the short story “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield. It’s about an elderly woman who goes to the park each Sunday to people-watch, knowing she will be missed if she doesn’t show up, only to be made fun of by a young couple in love.

I asked my class how old they thought the main character was (she’s probably 70+ or so). One girl raised her hand and said, “Older?”

I said, “How old is older?”

She thought for a minute, and then, in all seriousness, looked up at me and answered, “Thirty?”

Oh. God.