It's Been a While...

Hi there. Remember me? No? That's okay. Pull up a seat and maybe it'll all come back.

I haven't been around at all. Life's been... busy. I went back to school to (finally) finish my bachelor's degree. I'm majoring in History, minoring in English, at Rutgers University. It's been awesome. At least, my first semester was, last fall. I carried 15 credits and made Dean's List, thankyouverymuch.

This semester, however, has been different, to say the least. I'm carrying 15 credits again and I think I'm doing pretty well. But then COVID-19 swept through the land and now I'm remote schooling, which mostly sucks because I really do miss the classroom aspect of it. I miss the discussions and interactions mostly. My professors have done a great job of navigating such untested, uncharted waters, and all in all, I think my grades will be just fine. One more year and I'm done.

My family has been through some changes as well. Thing One graduated high school last year and is a freshman at college. Remote schooling as well, but also doing fantastic. Thing Two is finishing up 8th grade and will be a high school freshman next year, which is still a little unsettling to think about, now that I think about it.

We adopted this guy here in January. His name is Salem and he is a slinky boi... He's still really skittish, but settling in. I don't know his history, but my guess is he was an alley cat. He moves without a sound and is really good at hugging the walls and is fast as mercury...

Salem. He is always plotting.

He and Oreo play (at least, I hope it's playing) tag every night. Down the stairs. Up the stairs. They sound like the brothers in A Christmas Story when they're racing to get up the stairs to go to bed on Christmas Eve. But Salem is a lover as well, and will wrap all around your legs. Usually when you're trying to walk.

Oreo. I swear, she's not broken. She doesn't quite get how to cat...

We've also had a loss. A huge loss. On March 19, 2020, we said goodbye to our pupper Roxy. On Earth Day, 2009, she joined our family and coincidentally, it fell exactly the same as it did this year. She'd been diagnosed with two different types of cancer in 2017 and finally, it won. Words cannot possibly describe how much I miss her. This photo was one of the last ones I took of her. :( My house still seems freakishly quiet without her.

My Roxy-doo. I miss her beyond belief
8/1/2007 ~ 3/19/20

So, that's that. Here we are, under quarantine, waiting for the world to right itself. And it will. And hopefully we'll have learned something from it.

I don't know if I'll update again any time soon. It's been a rough couple of years, both personally and professionally. But never say never, right?

Guess Who...

Whoa... it's been a long time! But maybe it's time to brush the dust off and tidy up a little around here. A lot has changed since my last post. A. Lot.

To begin with, Musa Publishing is gone. Two years now. :(

Samhain Publishing is also gone. They held on for a year following my last post, but as of February 28, 2017 (Yikes, it's too hard to believe it;s 2017 already!!!) they closed their doors for good as well.

But, as they say, when one door closes, another one opens and in my case, I'm happy to announce that Entangled Publishing offered contracts on Tiger Eyes and When I'm With You. Eden's Pass, however is out of print and likely to remain so for now. I have hopes of one day having it out there again, but it needs some updating and I've got several projects going on right now as well, so we'll have to see what happens with it.

I don't have any of the details yet on the other two - but when I do, I'll share. And hopefully, I'll be able to get back into blogging. I hesitate to promise, because life really does get in the way sometimes and let's face it, sometimes there's just nothing really exciting to blog about.

I wrote my very first post on April 22, 2006. Eleven years ago. Damn... So much has happened between now and then. My kidlets were 5 and 6 months old at the time. Now, they are sixteen and eleven. My first Samhain book (Eden's Pass) wouldn't come out for another almost two years. Now? I've had almost a dozen books published and many more written, hopefully to be published at a later day. I've lost forty pounds and became a gym rat. It's been an incredible and interesting journey since that first blog post and I can see I have a bit of housekeeping to do here. Some of it's rather sad - like the publishers that are no more- but what's to come makes up for it. I'm looking so forward to all of it.

So, I can't promise I won't ever slack on this, but I'll try to get back to it on a regular basis. I've actually kind of missed blogging (does anyone even do this anymore? I don't know, I've gotten lazy on the blogs I follow as well. **shrug**) so maybe that will change.

We shall see.

A Quick Hello!

Just popping in to say hello, if anyone even pops in here themselves any longer these days. I know I've neglected this blog horribly, but I've been writing and knitting and doing some vacationing (we spent Spring Break in Florida, doing Disney and spending some time with family.)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Our Easter was spent in airports in both Florida and NJ (and it was the first time I've ever been to the AC airport. Small and quiet, not the zoo Newark can be) and then we had a 3 hour car trip up from AC to home. But it was worth it. I love DisneyWorld. I could go there every year on vacation, and I would, if my bank account would let me. :) I'm trying to talk my other half into doing my birthday in Disney - maybe next year. We'll see.

Other than that, I've got a few subs out that I'm waiting on responses for, and I've got some new cover art that I'll be showing eventually. My release date for Don't Tempt Me has been changed, so it won't be out until mid-summer. Not really happy about it, but it's out of my hands.

The school year is winding down and I'm thinking I really don't want to be a class parent any more. There are too many stupid rules to follow when it comes to class parties (no junk food. Really???? I can't bring cupcakes for a Christmas - sorry, Holiday--party because they're "unhealthy" and yet, my 2nd grader can buy all the cookies and ice cream he wants in the cafeteria. Hypocrite much, school principal who makes the rules?)

Ahem.

So, I think this year is my one and only foray into classroom parenthood. Or it will be until common sense returns to the district (yeah, right. Same district that built one lousy snow day into their calendar. A snow day that was used up in December. Then came storm after storm, and closing after closing... real brilliance at work here, sometimes.)

Ahem.

So, there you are. I'm still here. I still don't know when (or even if) I'll return to regular blogging. But rest assured, I'm alive and well and writing and living. Yanno, enjoying life.

Hugs.

Still Around

Whew - is it really December 14th already? It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, as you can see, I'm still here, just not as here as I used to be.

November was a busy month for me, between Thanksgiving and NaNo - I didn't see much in the way of sunlight, so to speak. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday - mine was bittersweet this year. Before we bought our house, my husband and the kids and I spent Thanksgiving at my mom's house. But after we bought the house, my mom very gladly handed off the holiday to me and up until she got sick, we did Thanksgiving together. And although she'd been too sick to do Thanksgiving since 2010, this was the first one without her entirely. Since her death, I'd gone back and forth over whether or not I even wanted to host Thanksgiving - my mother in law and sister in law both offered in my place.

But in the end, I decided that I wanted a houseful of people and I wanted to be able to drink as much wine as I wanted without having to worry about driving home - so I did Thanksgiving. And as the day drew nearer, I have to admit, it left me feeling a little blue - as much as I looked forward to having my husband's family there, I was dreading the empty chair.

When my brother and I cleaned out my mom's house three years ago, I inherited my mother's china and crystal, which had been my grandparents' wedding gifts. I boxed it up and stored in my attic. This year, I decided that I wanted to use it - with some hesitation because it's 80 years old and what if something got broken??? - so I went into the attic and brought everything down, washed it (by hand. Can't put 80 year old china in the dishwasher) and as I dried and stacked everything, I felt better. And when I set the table on Thanksgiving, seeing all that beautiful china and delicate crystal made me feel like my mom and grandparents were with me, which made me smile.

The firsts are the worst - and I'm looking toward Christmas with the same mixed feelings. I don't know if it will get better, but at least it can't really get any worse.

As for NaNo, I banged out over 100k words in about sixteen days - so it was a success. At one point, I was averaging 12k words a day. It was another Sebastiano book and it just sort of wrote itself. Now, I'm in the process of revising it (along with Rafe's story, which should be done and ready for subbing around the beginning of the year.) I decided to do NaNo this year because since my mom died, I hadn't really felt much like writing anything, and I didn't care if I ever wrote another word. I thought NaNo might be just what I needed to reignite that spark and it worked. I have the basic plot for another Sebastiano book, one I plan on writing sometime over the winter. It felt wonderful to not only be writing again, but to actually be excited about the story I was telling, so I won on several different levels where NaNo is concerned.

I haven't decided when (or even if, which I probably shouldn't be admitting) I'll get back to regular blogging. I know it won't be before the new year - I'm concentrating on family and current projects right now - but I will pop in from time to time.

Until then, I'd like to wish everyone who celebrates a very Merry Christmas (or a happy holiday, whichever holiday that might be) and Happy New Year!

Ireland

Twenty years ago today, I was supposed to be married to my high school sweetheart. I say supposed to, because it never happened. Long story short, instead of getting married on October 16, 1993, I boarded a plane bound for Ireland. This trip was my mother's way of keeping me from thinking of What Might Have Been.

Those two weeks were amazing. Ireland was so beautiful (if quite cold. Apparently, there are two types of weather, according to the Irish I met - warm and rainy, or cold and sunny) and the people there were some of the nicest people I've ever met anywhere. And they truly seemed to like Americans. They asked us about why we'd chosen Ireland and when we explained our Irish roots, people treated us like long-lost relatives. Honestly, if there is a more beautiful people in the world, I've yet to meet them.

We landed at Shannon Airport at the ungodly hour of six AM. It was still dark and cold enough that the windows of our rental car had frosted over. Mom and I were traveling with my aunt and uncle (her sister and brother-in-law), and we all hunted in vain for the ice scraper. None to be found. So, while the car heated up, my uncle attempted to clear the windshield using his glove. It didn't work,

But finally, the windows cleared and we were off - navigating the madness that is the Irish highway system. They love roundabouts. In New Jersey, we call them traffic circles and there isn't a Jersey driver alive who isn't a master of these (the ones who can't drive them are usually from out of state. Mostly, Pennsylvania,) so we handled those without any trouble. Driving on the wrong side of the road presented a bit of a challenge, but even that took only a day or two of adjusting.

From Shannon, we went down into the Ring of Kerry, to Kinsale and Blarney, up to Kilkenny and Dublin, and finally to Galway. I got sick three days into the trip (it started in Kinsale. In all the pictures, I look miserable and trust me, I felt worse than I looked. It was bad.) By the time we reached Blarney, I just wanted to die. My aunt and uncle went on the hunt for a pharmacy and throat lozenges because my throat felt like I'd swallowed broken glass and then gargled with salt water. It felt shredded. I was running a fever. It. Was. Horrible.

I remember that our hotel room at Christy's (in Blarney) had a window seat. And I remember sitting on it, leaning my head against the window pane. Then, I realized there was condensation on the glass. Then I realized that, using the side of my hand, I could make footprints (the toes? I just touched my fingertip to the glass to make toeprints.) So, while my mom, my aunt, and my uncle were at dinner, I made a trail of footprints all the way to the top of the window. This is what happens when I'm left alone and feverish.

Sometime during that night, my fever broke and when I woke the next day, I felt a thousand times better (aside from the stuffed up nose. Blech.) I felt well enough to kiss the Blarney Stone (which was a scary experience, since you hang upside down and backward from the top of the tower. The only thing between me and certain death was this little old man who was about five minutes younger than the tower itself.)

I sniffled my way through the rest of the country and the flight home was pretty uncomfortable (I found out when I returned home that I had bronchitis, so ended up on antibiotics afterwards.) But it was the only trip my mom and I would ever take, just the two of us. It was the only time she ever traveled outside of the United States. She often talked about going back, but it just never happened. Money. Circumstances. There was always something else that would come up and keep her firmly rooted in the US. It really was a great two weeks (despite the sick) and I've always been so grateful to have had that time with my mom. We spent one night tracing our family history back to Kilkenny, in the 1860s. Someday, I'll see how far back it actually goes

Every October 16th, I think about that trip, but this year is different, since the 16th also marks four months since my mom died. Some days are good ones, but every so often, I'll see or hear something and think, "Oh, I have to call Mom and tell her that!"

And then I remember.

It's still so hard to believe that I will never hear her voice again. I dream about her sometimes.

And now, when my mother's words come out of my mouth (usually said in exasperation to my daughter,) I don't cringe the way I used to. They almost make me smile now.

I still miss her, though. I always will.

Twenty years ago today, I was supposed to be married to my high school sweetheart. I say supposed to, because it never happened. Long story short, instead of getting married on October 16, 1993, I boarded a plane bound for Ireland. This trip was my mother's way of keeping me from thinking of What Might Have Been.

It's now one of my favorite memories. Thank you, Mom. I'm thinking of you today.

I miss you.

Sick

It's been a rough week in my house. Last weekend, the Girl started with a cold. No problem. She handles them a lot better now than she did when she was a little kid (when I'd be up all night with her because she refused to sleep.) But I was still cursing myself because while the Boy got a flu shot in October, I didn't make her get one, and when her temperature went up to 100 degrees, I was really wishing I'd gotten her one. But fortunately, her temp was back to normal by the morning and it turned out to be just a cold.

However, when kids get germs, they are VERY generous with them. I spent most of Wednesday cleaning - dusting, vacuuming, waiting for my DVDs of Downton Abbey to arrive (which they did that afternoon - woot!) and by late afternoon, my throat felt a little scratchy. Kind of like when you've been at a concert or a Giants game screaming your head off.

Oh.

No.

By Thursday morning, my throat felt like I'd swallowed a dozen razor blades - hot and raw and just awful. I can tolerate fevers, coughing, my head feeling like it's going to explode, but I despise sore throats. They make me grouchy. No, I'll be honest, they make me downright bitchy. And when I'm sick, I just want to be left alone. Throw in a sore throat on top of it, and don't even look at me unless you want me to rip your face off. I'm a lousy patient and fortunately, my husband and I've been married long enough that he knows the best thing to do is stay faaaaar away from me.

So I spent all day Thursday and Friday in bed, waiting for death to come get me. While I waited, I got caught up entirely on Downton Abbey and now I know exactly who everyone is and what's happened to them prior to Season Three. And, even better? Every night, my seven year old son came up to sing Soft Kitty (fans of The Big Bang Theory will understand) to me, which totally made being sick worthwhile.

I still feel pretty blah - now I'm all stuffed up and coughing like a TB patient, so I can't guarantee I'll be back to regular blogging this week, but I will be back next week (in February. EEK! The year is already flying by!)

Where is the Sun?

I haven't seen it for a week. This weather reminds me of the one spring, about ten years ago, where it literally rained for three weeks straight. Awful. By the time the sun finally came out, my townhouse was lakefront property and I was ready to kill someone.

I don't mind the rain at night. Actually, I kind of like it. I like to fall asleep to the sound of it pattering on the roof, and I love the way it smells on the air. But during the day? No. When it stretches into many days? Absolutely not.

The last few weeks, though, the weather's kind of been fitting for my mood. This time of the year is never a good one, since you've got that post-holiday let down (and I have to confess, I like Christmas music - well, most of it - and it just stops so abruptly that it makes the post-holiday let down that much stronger.) And it's cold (except for this year. It got real cold for a few days, but then warmed up a little.) I don't mind the cold if there's snow, but when it's just cold? Forget it. Bring on spring.

This holiday season was a little rougher than most for me. My mom's been sick for a few years and now she's beginning the rapid decline. She doesn't recognize me or my brother any longer. So going to see her is draining. Very draining. It's very difficult to talk to someone who has no idea who you are - on so many different levels.

So I'm trying to focus on the new year, and being able to kind of start over. If only the weather would cooperate. I heard a vicious rumor that the sun might come out today, or maybe tomorrow, but I'm not so sure I believe it.

And on that note, it's time to curl up with a hot cup of coffee and the latest WIP.

Reading Goals

When I was a kid, lo so many moons ago, I used to read like a fiend. The first time I read Gone with the Wind, I read it in about a day and a half, around classes. I used to read three or four books a week. But then I had kids and time became a little more precious (and a lot more of my reading consisted of Goodnight, Moon and Winnie the Pooh.) Little by little, I stopped reading (EEK!)

But then last year I got a Kindle. Since then, I've rediscovered my love of reading. I love that I can slip it into my purse and I've got some fifty books to choose from on it - I'm building my Kindle library slowly, but it's getting there. And it's been a godsend when I go to get my hair colored.

Last winter, I plowed through Sabrina Jeffries Hellions of Halstead series. Come summer, I devoured Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series. On vacation, I brought something like twenty books with me, and didn't have to worry about them weighing my luggage down. Ahh... I missed reading and I'm so glad I came back to it. :D

And it's not just limited to ebooks. I buy Janet Evanovich's Plum series in hardcover - although this year, my daughter gave me the nineteenth book for my birthday. I coveted the Bruce Springsteen bio for weeks, showing remarkable restraint in not buying it because I was sure I'd get it for Christmas. And my husband came through. It took me more than a day and a half to read it, but I savored every last word of it.

I'd forgotten how much reading carried me away. And honestly, part of my reason for getting away from it was simply that I didn't read as a reader any longer. I read as a writer. Plot holes. Grammar problems. Typos. Faulty research. It all jumped out at me until reading became more of a chore than a joy. But somehow, I've managed to rediscover reading as a reader. And while I won't set a goal for number of books I read, I do hope that it will top last year's, which came in around 75 books. That's not a lot for some people, and once upon a time, I'd have scoffed at such a low number, but not now.

So I'm starting off this year with Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels. I'm about halfway through the first one and even though it isn't a genre I usually read, I'm enjoying it. My husband is a fan of True Blood and he's the one who suggested the first book, so I have him to thank. Just like I have to thank my Kindle for rekindling (no pun intended) my love for books. :D

A Bit of This & That

Things have been relatively quiet around here, since I turned in Windemere. I've been fighting with the blurb (which will go to my publisher this weekend, thank God. I hate writing blurbs almost as much as I hate writing a synopsis, which is saying a lot.) I'm working on a blanket for my nephew, so my nights are spent knitting and purling, which is relaxing. The other night, the hubs and I watched Sherlock Holmes, which wasn't quite what I expected, but I still liked it. It's the first Jude Law movie I've seen where he didn't make my skin crawl, so that was a plus. And it had Robert Downey, Jr,. in it, which was a HUGE plus. I'm not a huge movie person (I think the last one I saw in the theater was the very last Harry Potter movie, so that tells you how often I get to the movies.) I watch a lot of TV on DVD, though. Right now I'm working my way through M*A*S*H, and you know you've got brilliant comedy when an episode written forty years ago is still funny today.

I've also been doing some research for my next book. It's been fun, but a little challenging. I don't mind research, rather I kind of enjoy it. It's like solving a little bit of a mystery or solving a puzzle. I usually end up with tons more info than I could ever use, but since there's a chance it will turn up in a book later on (like the research I did on sugar plantations for Eden's Pass. That book came out four years ago and I ended up combing through the research files for it for information while I was writing Windemere) so it's all good.

Our dryer is on its way out, so the hubs and I have begun the joy that is comparing and pricing dryers. Joy. And I always find that the more research I do on stuff like that, the less I end up knowing. I hate reading the reviews, because for every one who loves a certain item, there are at least two more who hate it. I hate buying anything big like this because I know that a week after I get it, the one I really wanted will go on sale, but I've already bought a more budget-friendly thing instead. It's like buying a new car, only worse because I lease my cars, so I'm only stuck with it for 3, maybe 4, years. A new washer or dryer or oven is going to be in my house forever.

I can't believe summer is half over already. Back to school shopping is right around the corner. Of course, that means cooler autumn weather is as well. Then again, judging by how cold last winter was (I think the temps averaged in the forties. Not exactly frigid) it might not be such a relief after all. This summer has been brutal. I've never seen so many days where the temperature, combined with the heat index, hovered at 105 degrees. It's been awful, especially since I hate the heat. We've also had a lot of thunderstorms, which is good, since we really do need the rain.

So, that's really it in my corner of the world. I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics over the next two weeks. I love the Olympics - summer and winter - so it'll be a nice break from the ever-depressing news (and endless political bull^%&* that I won't even get into because it pisses me off so much.) Go Team USA! :D

A Little More About Reviews

Wow, when the WTFery abounds, it really abounds. What is going on in the world to create such absolute, idiotic, crazy? Is there something in the water? In the air? Am I being punked? Are we all being punked? Because it's getting to the point where we're about all filled up withe crazy.

It all started with the nimrods wanting to out so-called bullies (who, we've discovered, aren't bullies. They simply have a different opinion than the nimrods would like them to have.) And then somewhere, someone sipped their cup of crazy and decided they simply could not live unless they outdid the nimrods.

Which brings me to a second post about reviews.

So we all know I'm shameless. I read my reviews. I will on occasion Google to see if there are any new ones (Gasp! Cough! Gasp!) And I'm not going to apologize, either, so there. Meh. :D

Anyways...

But what I would never do, (aside from attack someone who gave one of my books a less than glowing review - yanno, because she hated the heroine and wished the hero had killed her or something like that) is pay for a review.

Let me say that again.

I would NEVER pay for a review.

EVER.

There are two reasons why (well, there are more, actually, but these are my top two) -

1. If I paid and got a crappy review, I'd be pissed. Why the hell did I pay you when I can get someone who hates the heroine and wants the hero to kill her for free?

2. If I paid and received a glowing review, I'd be suspicious. I paid them, right? So they damn well better say how golden my wurdz are, right?

So, apparently, there is a certain blog that charges $95 for a review. $95???? Really?? Egads, I must be cheap because I wouldn't even consider paying that for a review. I'm not crazy about coughing up the $$ for ad space on really well known and respected romance review sites (I do it, but man, I'm so cheap it really stings. Even though, I do recoup the costs in sales/exposure, so it's all worth it in the end.) And in some cases, it costs a lot less than $95 for that advertising space.

And really, considering there are so many well-known, well-respected review sites that don't charge for reviews, why on earth would you even consider paying for a review? True, a lot of them are backlogged, so your book might not be reviews, but at least if it is, you can be fairly certain there is no amount of bias involved.

Now, this review blog states that it only accepts books it thinks will garner 4 or 5 stars to begin with, but I still fail to see how that justifies charging for a review. And really, what good is any review blog that refuses to post less than stellar reviews? What's the point? If a book doesn't work for a reviewer, that reviewer owes it to the reader to say why, doesn't s/he?

And that brings me to my next point. This blog states that it is there to "help authors, not destroy them."

Um, reviews are not for authors. They are for readers.

Let me say that again (and I think I said it in my previous post as well, but I'm not above repeating myself)

REVIEWS ARE NOT FOR AUTHORS. THEY ARE FOR READERS.

Ahem. So really, while a glowing review (especially an honest glowing review) can be a massive ego-stroke for an author, it's really not about the author at all. They are for the people who are considering which book to buy. The reader.


Now, while I was doing a little bit of research for this post, I noticed that the site in question has nothing on it about charging a fee for their reviews and I can't say for certain if it ever appeared on their site, or if that little tidbit only comes to light after an author submits a request for a review. I do know of two authors who did not learn about the fee until after they submitted the review request. I did look at Kirkus Indie Reviews, and they very clearly state right on their Indie page what they charge for a review. Now although this is Kirkus, which is extremely well-known and highly respected, the Indie Review is a different arm. You don't pay for a Kirkus Review review (Department of Redundancy Department??)

And then there was what happened with author Michele Gorman. She is one of those two authors. When she blogged about whether or not reviewers should charge to their reviews, the site in question responded by threatening a lawsuit. So Ms Gorman went and removed all references to the site (although, one cannot be guilty of defamation if what one claims is true. Dear Author did a nice little summary of it yesterday.)


But the point still remains the same - I don't believe in paying for reviews and it isn't something I would ever do.

Note: This post was originally written on 7/18, but due to a power failure in my neck of the woods, it's only being posted on 7/19.

A Few Things That Annoy Me

I'm finally starting to feel a little better (thank dog), and I'm at that stage now where I'm not sick enough to stay in bed and veg out to Rachael Ray, but not feeling quite well enough to hit the gym today. And that means that I am a little on the cranky side. Well, what better way to assuage the crankies than to rant about some stuff?

Actually, the topic popped into my head while I was perusing my Facebook wall. The more I think about it, the more I think I need to get away from Facebook--at least until the election is over. That one uber-political friend, the crazy ultra-right winger who probably has a stockpile of food and weapons in her basement, is just driving me beyond insane. I know it isn't directed at me, but at the same time, it kind of is because in her view, if you don't agree with her, you could not BE MORE WRONG and are worthy of only contempt.

So, in honor of the Facebook Friend Who Pisses You Off, I give you (in no particular order) a list of things that annoy me.

1. People who don't clean off the machines at the gym - You know these gross people. They've just spent forty minutes on the treadmill, you see the sweat dripping off them and yet, when they finish using the bench press, they don't clean it off. Seriously, WTF is wrong with these people? My gym is literally littered with spray bottles and rags -- all there for the express purpose of cleaning your grossness off the machines so no one else has to sit in your funk. Ew.

2. People who use the self-checkout lanes for their entire 2-weeks-worth-of-groceries shop - Now, I don't mean the people who use the scanner so that all they have to do is beep the End of Order bar and tally up (this is truly the only way to shop.) I mean the twit who has the entire cart filled to the point of overflowing, and is scanning. Each. Item. Individually. To me, those lanes are for small orders and the Scan-It orders. The fast orders.

3. The traffic light at the intersection of Dukes Parkway and Roycebrook Road - this signal is evil. I swear, every time I approach it, it changes to red (even when there is no cross traffic.) Then, just as I slow to a crawl, it turns green. It stays red long enough to slow me down and then BAM! Light changes. I swear it's mocking me. I don't know why, but that light's got it in for me.

4. People who comment on their own Facebook status - Not the ones who respond to the comments left by others. That's only polite. I mean the people who update their status, and are the only ones commenting on it. Do they realize they are, in essence, talking to themselves? And for the most part, it really isn't necessary to reiterate what you've just said. I get it. You hate Obama and you really want people to know it. Then you want them to know it again. And again. And again. Trust me, we get it. We just. Don't. Care. There isn't a single person on your friends' list who doesn't get it. Oh, and we all pretty much think you're nuts. It's very passive-aggressive, I realize, but I'm not about to start up a fight on Facebook over something as stupid as politics. I'll just gripe about it over here and on Twitter.

5. Spam - I don't know if it would annoy me quite as much if the stupid spammers at least got my gender right. WTF am I going to do with Viagra, Cialis, or any other penis-related drugs? I don't have a penis, you idiots. Spam me with offers for stuff like Jimmy Choos and I might (just maybe) bite. Trust me, I will never take you up on your ED meds offers. Oh, and I don't care how many lotteries I've won, I'm not sending you my bank account information.

And last, but not least

6. Blogger - Since when does Ctrl+I not italicize? I have to click on the little i up top, and then click on it 50 more times to unitalicize. WTF is that about? Grrr...

Okay. End of rant. As you were. :D

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

That I'll be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

Once upon a time, I hit the gym 7 days a week. I did cardio. I lifted weights. I was fit! I was also childless, which made hitting the gym 7 days a week easy.

Well, fast forward two kids later. Up until this past December, I managed to still get to the gym a few days a week. I get cranky if I can't exercise. Yes, I'm one of those crazy people who actually likes to work out. Last year, I discovered I like to run (I always thought runners were even more mental then the rest of us gym rats. But there you have it.) I was up to three miles every other day when I pulled a hip flexor muscle last spring. Do you know how much that frickin' hurts? It took months to heal. Months, I tells ya. By the time I could run without pain, it was nearly September and I had to start all over again. By Thanksgiving, I was hitting almost 2 miles per workout.

But then the craziness of the holidays caught up and for reasons I won't go into, I ended up running like a lunatic. Time was at a premium, so the gym was the first thing to get sacrificed. I didn't give up my membership - I've belonged to the same gym since 1998 and won't ever give it up voluntarily. Ever. But that time was used for other stuff.

Well, I decided it's time to carve out that time again. And so I went back today. Ran half a mile. Did an hour with the weights. I tried to make sure I didn't push too hard. But my legs are already tight and I think I won't be able to lift my arms over my head tomorrow. Oh well. I don't care. I'm just happy to be back in the gym again.

But keep your fingers crossed that I can get out of bed in the morning. I am 40, you know... :D

Trying to Keep Up With It

Blogging, that is. I've been good. So far.


So today, my other half and I went oven shopping. When we bought our house four years ago, the oven, dishwasher, and microwave came with the house. We were in the house for about a two days when the dishwasher died. So, off I went to replace it. I wasn't happy about it, but what can you do, right?

Well, since about that same time, I've had a love/hate relationship with my oven. I suppose it was a nice oven -- a JennAir, which is pretty good. It's a convection oven (which really means very little to me, because the woman we bought the house from took the owner's manual with her -- but left the installation manual, for some bizarre reason. Probably the same reason she took the bag for our pool cover, I dunno -- I don't know who or what convection is.) But while the rangetop is gas (and for that I was thankful for when the power went out after Irene) the oven is electric.

I don't like electric. You don't cook with electricity. The broiler leaves everything kind of... gray-looking. No matter how high I have the heat.

But the oven. Wouldn't. Die.

Well, that's it - we finally decided the time's come to replace it. I've suffered long enough. My husband knows I love to cook (and I've come a long way since the hard-as-a-rock-and-about-as-tasty meatloaf I made for him right after we got married) and he knows how much I hate this damned oven. So we went shopping today.

My new oven will be here this week. It's all gas. It's convection (so I'll finally find out what that actually does.) It has five burners.

I'm in love. :D

Oh, and the over the range microwave is twenty years old and the handle is held on by electrical tape, so that is being retired at the same time. It's earned a good, long rest. I actually hate to get rid of it (I think the electrical tape gives it a certain je ne sais quois. And I know that isn't spelled right. And I. Don't. Care. :D) because I don't like to throw anything out that still works or might have some life left in it (my husband should consider himself lucky, for that, :D) but at the same time, the time's come.

And now that my edits for A Perfect Lady have been turned in (now I sit back and wait for the final proof. Yay!) I actually have a little bit of free time, and that's good. I can catch up on my blog reading (I've been terrible about that of late), I can get back to Six-Sentence Sunday, and I might even be able to read a book. Of course, my current WIP, Don't Tempt Me suddenly picked up again. I shelved it while I did edits and polished something else that will be going on submission tomorrow. Then, when I was putzing around over the weekend, I took a peek at it and BAM! The words came almost as fast as I could type them. I love that. So I will probably work on that as long as my muse and I are on speaking terms.

And that's where I am now, and it's good to be back.

Hurricane Irene

We survived. Our power went out for three days (it's still intermittent as of tonight), our water has cut out every now and again, I've thrown out God only knows how much food from my refrigerator (that almost made me cry. I hate wasting food,) our pool took a beating and is probably done for the summer, but we didn't have it nearly as bad as some people in my neighborhood.

Central Jersey took a beating. Entire towns have ended up under water. The lower half of my neighborhood has about ten houses that were condemned this afternoon. The river overflowed its banks and spilled about a quarter mile into my neighborhood. People have literally lost everything they own. Total strangers are helping each other cart out furniture and ruined toys, clothes, carpets - all to be thrown in the dumpsters the township dropped off today. Police are stationed at the entrances to my development because lowlife pieces of garbage are actually coming in to loot from these people. On Sunday, after the rains stopped and the sun came out, the only noise that could be heard was the growl of generators (we don't have one. We WILL very soon. I will NEVER throw food out because of a power outage ever again.) That first night, there was a festive air about my neighborhood. People were outside, talking and drinking beer, cooking out on grills, sharing with each other - anything to make it a little less terrible.

By yesterday, that festive air faded, replaced by people getting to work cleaning up. I was going to take pictures of some of the damage, but I couldn't bring myself to photograph my neighbors' misery. Instead, I took impersonal photos - and this wasn't even the worst of the flooding. That came late Sunday night, when the river crested and the water rose even higher. It isn't any better yet, as the water overflow from north of us spills in to our waterways.

Irene sucked.

Goodbye, 2010!

And really, if ever I was glad to see a year end, 2010 must be it.

As many of you know, 2010 has been a mixed year for me. Professionally, it's been wonderful (hectic, but wonderful.) I sold five books, four of them have come out already. The next one is due on January 21st. I've made some terrific cyber-friends who've become trusted beta readers, and discovered a bunch of new writers as well.

Personally, though, it's been a tough year. While the Boy is doing fantastic and is almost caught up to where kids his age should be, my husband was diagnosed with diabetes in September and my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in July, so I've been spending more time than I care to in doctors' offices, ERs, hospitals, and rehab facilities. The economy has hit my family hard as well and who knows how long it will take for us to get back to where we were before 2008. I got so burned out from writing that I took a two-month break, which was so desperately needed that I didn't even miss writing for the first six weeks. The itch to tell a story is coming back though, so I'll be at the keyboard soon enough.

But that's not to say I've been a total slacker. :D I'm finishing up the final draft of The King's Bride and that will be going out on sub sometime in January. I also have two other books that are thisclose to being ready. And now that my batteries are recharged, I'm ready to get back to writing on a regular basis.

Hopefully, 2011 will offer up a little more reading time as well. I've been woefully remiss in my reading. Once upon a time, I'd read 2-3 books a week. This year? I think I've read two books in total.  I bought the newest Stephanie Plum back at the beginning of the summer. I'm on page 10, I think. I've been reading Lisa Kleypas' Tempt Me at Twilight since July. It's sad, really.

I'm not a big New Year's Eve person, so I'll ring in 2011 curled up with The Twilight Zone and The Honeymooners, and wonder what the new year has in store. I normally get very reflective at this time of the year but now, I'm really looking forward to the calendar changing over.

Bring on 2011!

My Four

Okay, I'm done with my Christmas shopping, and since I can't motivate myself to do the wrapping (I swear I'll do it tomorrow. Honest) here's a fun little post I stole from Scarlett Parrish's blog. Go check it out while I'm answering these questions...


1. Four shows that you watch:

•  CSI - although I'll admit, the show is nowhere near as good as it was when William Peterson was on it. 
• CSI:NY - I only recently discovered this one, and it took about two and half minutes to get hooked on it. Not only does it appeal to the geek in me, but it a) has Gary Sinise in it, b) I adore NYC, c) it has Gary Sinise in it. (are ya seeing the pattern???)
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann - He's like, my news-guy crush. Don't tell my husband.
• The Rachel Maddow Show  - I want to have a beer with her. It'd be awesome.

2. Four things you are passionate about:

• Getting time completely to myself. 
• My family
• Improving my craft (that sounds so stupid and dorky, but it's true)
• Baseball

3. Four phrases you say a lot:

• "Are you kidding me?!" <--- see the multiple punctuation? Drives one of my editors nuts. :D
• "You have got to be kidding me!"
• "How cool is that?"
• "I need coffee. A lot of it. Like now."

4. Four things you’ve learned from the past:

• There really is only so far down you can go. Eventually, you have to go up.
• It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's how you handle what happens to you that does.
• Nothing worth having is easy to get.
• Asking for help is not a sign of weakness.

5. Four places you would like to go:

• England
• Scotland
• back to Ireland
• Hawaii

6. Four things you did yesterday:

• Spent the day with old, dear friends I don't get to see often enough
• Watched the NY Giants piss away a great game as their defense folded like a cheap suit and they GAVE a victory to the Philadelphia Effing Eagles (can you tell I'm still pissed about that??)
• Watched the Survivor finale. Yes, I watch Survivor. Don't judge me.
• Played with my son and his Phineas and Ferb "action figures."

7. Four things you are looking forward to:

• Christmas. This is my favorite time of year
• Going to sleep tonight. I'm exhausted
• Spring. And yes, I know winter's only just beginning. Let's not talk about that, m'kay?
• My hair growing out. I cut nearly 12" off it last January. Not. A. Good. Idea.

8. Four things you love about winter:

• Snow. There is no such thing as too much.
• Having the window cracked enough that I need the sheet, the blanket, and the comforter.
• Christmas music
• That spring is next

And there it is - my list of four.

I'll probably post once or twice more before the end of the year and you KNOW I'll be posting tomorrow, since Tiger Eyes will be available **ahem** tomorrow. :D

Tiger Eyes is Coming!

I received a bit of an early Christmas gift last night, in my email inbox. My electronic copies of Tiger Eyes made their appearance, so I guess it really is going to be released on the 21st. The feeling of getting those copies never gets old, but I have to confess--there's a little more of a rush when the box of print copies arrives. With Eden's Pass, I forgot to let the Powers-That-Be over at Samhain know I'd moved (oops. How do you forget something like that???), so they went to my old address. Fortunately, the woman who bought our townhouse was kind enough to have her mother bring the carton to me. Unfortunately, the woman was a smoker and had the box in her car for about two weeks before she had the time to deliver them. It  took a long time for the smoky smell to dissipate. Blech. But still, she didn't have to bring them at all, so what's a little stinky at that point?

But still, it's a wonderful thing, to get that email file and unzip it. Yay!

So, there's just about two weeks until Christmas and I'm happy to say I am pretty much finished with all my shopping. Wrapping is another story, but the shopping is just about finished. This year, I actually had ideas for people, which is a switch from most years. And, I enjoyed shopping as well, which never happens for me. I'm not a shopper. I go, I get what I need, and I get the hell out of Dodge. But this year, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon. All I have left to get are stocking stuffers. Then I'm finished. My record for Christmas shopping? Two hours. I was nine months pregnant with my first child (The Girl, who'll be ten at the end of the month. How's that for poor planning???) and basically bought everyone the same thing, only in a different color. :-)

All that's left is to find out who all will be here on Christmas Day (originally I was supposed to be doing Christmas dinner, but now that's kind of up in the air.) I might end up doing Christmas Eve instead, which is fine, but people--you have to let me know.

And the wrapping. I hate the wrapping more than the shopping and I think there should be a law that all gifts must come in perfectly square, nicely solid, boxes. I suck at wrapping odd-shaped things. Really. I make a really lousy elf.

So what are your holiday plans?

Popping In...

Because yes, I am still alive. I think.

Final edits on Playing with Fire are done and turned in. It'll be out next Friday so look for it. Buy it early and buy it often! :)

Ahem...

I'm most of the way through final line edits for Tiger Eyes, so yay! I'm thisclose to being completely caught up on everything. Five books in less than six months is madness and I'll be glad when December rolls around. I'm taking the month off.

I'm also thisclose to finishing my NaNo project. It was supposed to be a western historical, but I scrapped that idea partway into the first week and decided to finish writing Aidrian's story. It's coming along nicely and I should finish it up sometime in the next two or three days. Yay!

Hopefully then I'll get around to regular (or at least semi-regular) blogging.

Hopefully.

As Time Goes By...

That was the title of the last, first-run episode of M*A*S*H back in 1983. In this episode, the members of the 4077th bury a time capsule of their time in Korea and what the war meant to each member of the camp. There's a disagreement between Margaret and Hawkeye about how to symbolize their time in Korea (gung-ho military vs. peace loving doc.) But in the end, both sides come to a meeting of the minds and items representing each are placed in the capsule.

This past weekend was my 20th high school reunion. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend, which kind of stunk, because judging from the pictures, it looked like a lot of fun) but it did get me to thinking about how quickly those 20 years have passed. How young we all looked, how immortal we all felt. We were going to be 17/18 forever.

Sometimes, I miss that feeling of invincibility - I miss that hopefulness that comes with being so young and knowing you have your entire life ahead of you. When the biggest concern was whose house we'd be hanging out at come Friday night (and who we could get to supply us with beer. :)) No worries. No responsibilities.

They were fun times.

I miss them sometimes.

Imagination

When I first sat down to write this post, I planned to blog about imagination. But no matter what I wrote, it sounded ridiculous. Probably because it was ridiculous. What do I know about imagination? I know that I've always had a good one and sometimes it runs wild with me. :)

I never had invisible friends (either human or rabbit, and a cookie to anyone who gets the reference), but my favorite toys were my Barbie dolls. My best friend and I would play almost every day and we never played like those stupid Barbie commercials ("Barbie's a veterinarian!") We had storylines. And drama. And conflict. There were love triangles, and betrayals, and reunited lovers (oh, yeah... our Barbies were gettin' a little somethin'-somethin' as well. Hardly a surprise I grew up to write steamy romance novels, eh? :D) Kris's grandmother would come to watch her and her brother for two weeks every summer, and she said she preferred watching us to her soaps. Is it any surprise I'm a writer now?

I miss those days now - those Barbie games and their stories, laid the groundwork for the writing I do now. I learned all the basics just from my imagination, without even knowing I was learning and without ever thinking that it might be something I'd actually get paid to do.

Imagination is limitless. It's infinite. It's a gift. And it's a shame most people lose that gift, or let it fade away. The ones who retain it are the lucky ones.