Happy Birthday, A Few Thoughts (And Some News, Too!)

Okay, it's a little silly, but today, A Few Thoughts turns five. I looked back at the very first post, which is amazingly boring. Some six months after I posted it, someone commented. I remember being shocked - shocked, I tells ya - that someone actually --yanno - read my blog. I clicked on it (I was moderating comments at the time) and....

It was spam for a porn site.

Ouch.

Okay, so the blog's come a long way since then - now my comments are usually from real people (I still get the occasional spam link) and I love reading them! I don't blog as much as I used to - although I keep telling myself I will get back to it. And I will. Promise. :-)

And now for the news...

I recently sold A Perfect Lady to Aspen Mountain Press/Aurora Regency Historicals and it's set to be released in October to coincide with Aurora Regency Historicals first anniversary. It's the first book I've sold based on only a rough outline, so now I'm under the gun to get the book written. It's almost halfway finished right now and it's what's keeping me from a lot of other things. I've never worked under these circumstances - my books are usually completed by the time I sell them - so this is new (and stressful) for me.

A Perfect Lady is a McKenzie book, a prequel to Playing with Fire and The Pursuit. It's James and Rebecca McKenzie's story, which starts with one night of unbridled passion (if you're going to have passion, it might as well be unbridled, right?) and ends with... well... you'll just have to read the book when it comes out, right?

So, in order to celebrate both this sale and A Few Thoughts' birthday, I think I'll hold a bit of a contest. From now until May 15th, just leave a comment here to enter for your chance to win digital copies of Playing with Fire and The Pursuit.

Happy reading!

To Be Read

Way back when, I used to read like crazy. Trips to the bookstore were a weekly occurrence. I read Gone With the Wind in two days. Grisham's The Firm? Two hours (no lie. It's a record that still stands.)

Unfortunately, I don't have the same time I had back then. I'm so busy with my own writing and revising that it kind of takes over everything else. And, I've found I don't quite enjoy it as much as I used to, because I no longer read as a reader, but as a writer. Reading as a writer definitely has its drawbacks - mainly, I notice things that are wrong in the book. Whether it be grammatical, spelling, logic errors or plotholes - things that used to escape my attention now scream at me when I read. Which takes some of the pleasure out of reading.

Combine the two, and the result is that my TBR (To Be Read) pile is out of control.

In that pile currently:

1. Last Words - George Carlin. My other half gave me this for my birthday. I'm about halfway through it some three months later. I'll probably have to start it over when I get the chance to reread it.

2. Seduce Me at Sunrise - Lisa Kleypas. I bought this one (even though I never finished Mine 'Til Midnight. I just couldn't get into that story) and I'm thisclose to finishing. Hopefully before spring because I also have...

3. Tempt Me at Twilight - another Kleypas' Hathaway novels. I hope to get to it... some day.

4. True Compass - Ted Kennedy. Another birthday gift from my other half. It's on my dresser, collecting dust.

5. The Yankee Years  - Tom Verducci and Joe Torre. I started reading this when it came out, but honestly, it's an awful book. It's BORING as hell and frankly, I wanted to throw it across the room when Verducci (using a knitting metaphor of all the WTFness) wrote "knit one, pearl two." Now, I'm a knitter, but even before I learned, even I knew it was PURL and NOT PEARL. Dolt. Look it up if you're going to use a phrase you don't really understand. I have no desire to finish this horrid book. Not even if Joe Torre himself came to my house to read it to me. Blech.

ahem

6.  Emma - Jane Austen. I know... I'm supposed to revere Jane Austen and all things Austen, but I don't. I've only read one book by her and I had to slog through it. But... I'm willing to try again. Eventually.

7. Inferno - Dante. Someday. I swear I'm going to read this damn book.

And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

So... what's in your TBR pile???

Eden's Pass Released Today!

Time for the Happy Dance!

Eden's Pass is now available in paperback!

Here is the back cover copy -

Love can blow even a true pirate off course.

Finn Eden will do anything to escape a life of slavery on a Barbados sugar plantation. Even risk her life disguised as a cabin boy aboard a pirate ship, putting up with the drunken captain’s slovenly habits. Then her patience nets her an unexpected opportunity: A ship of her own. Half the profits. And freedom. Too bad the captain conveniently left out a small detail; there’s a price on his head.

Captain Inigo Sebastiano is a ruthless pirate with a years-long score to settle with the man who raped and murdered his wife. The truce he’s struck with the fiery Finn is uneasy in more ways than one, but his unsettling reaction to his new cabin “boy” is explained when he uncovers her true identity. Ever the gentleman pirate, he’ll help his lovely new bedmate keep her secret. For now. When the time is right, it’s a secret he’ll use to his advantage.

But the spitfire in his bed rekindles something in his heart he thought had died. As Inigo closes in on his quarry, he begins to wonder if Finn’s freedom—and her trust—is a sacrifice he’s willing to make.

Warning: this book may lead to fantasies containing gorgeous pirates with sexy accents.

So, if you like romance and sexy pirates... well, you know what I'm going to say, right?

Eden's Pass is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders!

If you purchase a copy from any of these outlets, please take the time out to post a review? Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Ahhh.... Modern Medicine!

So, it turns out that what I thought was the beginning of the mother of all colds was actually, in fact, strep. Great. I've only ever had strep throat once before and that was nearly 20 years ago.

I went to the doctor, who ran a Rapid Strep test. The poor nurse - twice I backed away from her, the third time, I pushed her away. The fourth attempt was the charm (what can I say? I hate throat cultures. Gack!)

Long story short, the test came back negative (WTF!@#$!???), but my doctor said that it's only 80% accurate to begin with and, judging by how red my throat was, she was fairly certain I fell into the 20% who have it despite the negative. So she prescribed me Zithromax and sent me on my way.

Wonderful stuff, this Zithromax. By Saturday night, my throat was almost 100% better. By last night, I was thisclose to my old self. Yay!

However, what also might have helped was that, for the first time in forever, I actually crawled into bed and got some real rest. I stayed in bed, in my jammies, all day Saturday (once I got home from the doctor's) and all day Sunday. I never do that. Isn't it funny how, when men get sick, they expect the world to just stop for them and they crawl into bed, sleep for two days, and spring up healthy as anything? But women don't get that luxury. For some reason, the world does not stop for us, no matter how lousy we feel.

Well this time, I made it stop. I stayed in bed and did nothing but read. For two days. I can't remember the last time I did that where childbirth wasn't involved. It was probably at least 8 years ago - BK (Before Kids.)

My husband's birthday was Friday, so earlier that week, I was in B&N to get part of his gift when I remembered I hadn't bought Janet Evanovich's most recent Stephanie Plum novel. They usually come out in May/June, so I was waaaaay behind with this one. Truth be told, I wasn't all that thrilled with the last few Plum novels, so I just never got around to buying the Fearless Fourteen. Just kind of forgot about it.

So I bought it as well. And read it in about six hours. It was hysterically funny in parts. Despite feeling so lousy on Friday, when I started it, I burst out in such laughter at one point, that my husband actually came to see what was so damn funny.

Since Friday was his birthday, I'd invited a whole mess of family for dinner. I didn't want to cancel it on account of a silly sore throat (it wasn't until later Friday night, when I really started feeling awful, that it dawned on me that I probably had strep) so I made dinner for ten people despite wanting only to crawl into a hole and die. I kept my distance from everyone, though, so all should be well. I hope.

When I got back from the doctor's on Saturday, I curled up in bed with Fearless Fourteen and blazed through it. The earlier Stephanie Plum novels were (and still are) some of the funniest books I've ever read, and Fourteen seemed to recapture it. When I finished it, I went back and dug out Lean, Mean Thirteen and re-read that. Same thing - funny as hell.

Since I was feeling better, I went and pawed through my books to find the other twelve Plums. So far, Hot Six and Twelve Sharp are still missing, which kind of sucks because Twelve is a hardback. They're probably in a box in the attic. I hope.

I figure by the time I finish re-reading them, book fifteen will be out. And hopefully I won't be disappointed.

So even though I felt like hell until last night, it wasn't really a bad weekend at all. In some ways, it was nice to just enjoy the peace and quiet. And I actually had peace and quiet. Even the kids seemed to understand that Mommy was sick and my husband kept them fairly occupied so I could rest. I think it was my going to the doctor that had him thinking I was thisclose to death, since I never go to the doctor when I'm sick.

Anyway, now it's Monday and, for the first time in a loooong time, I'm feeling pretty good. Of course, I think the Boy is coming down with something again (I can NOT wait for spring!!!) so by tomorrow I may be sleep deprived and cranky again. We'll see.

A Nice Surprise

The weather here has been beautiful the last few days. Not really very sunny, but warm. An upper 60s, low 70s kind of warm. And considering how long this winter seems to be dragging on, it's been a real nice change.

The downside is, of course, that my backyard is a biiiiiig swamp. And I literally mean a swamp. My development is situated on wetlands (well, it was a cow farm at one time, before there was anything wrong with building on wetlands), so when the snow melts and the ground thaws, things tend to get a little - ahem - squishy until everything dries out. By May, it's pretty dry, though it squishes up again with the slightest bit of rain.

But that's okay, since there's no harm in a little mud, right? The weather's been nice and I've been able to open the windows (to get the sick out) and take the kids out (who were going stir-crazy from being inside) and the hubs put up the swings on the jungle gym, so the Boy and the Girl were all set.

So we spent a good part of yesterday and a good part of today outside. Some of it was spent slogging through the mud, and picking up a lot of sticks, but we also got to go on the swings, and throw those sticks into the small trickle of water that passes for a creek behind my house.

After a long, cold, seemingly endless winter, the warm weather was absolutely welcome and I hope it sticks around. I'm tired of the cold and it's been wonderful to play outside with the kids.

It was also a nice weekend in that my author's copies for Eden's Pass arrived. I'd been wondering how long it would take to get them, and it turns out that they were actually shipped to my old address. I found this out when my doorbell rang last night and the woman on my front porch introduced herself as the mother of the woman who bought our townhouse. Apparently, the books were sent there instead of my new address and this woman's had them for about two weeks.

I have to admit, I got a total thrill out of opening that box and seeing all those books. It's such a different feeling from receiving the ebook versions. There's just something about holding a print book that is unlike any other feeling in the world. I hope it isn't something that ever gets old, either.

So it was a terrific weekend all around. And with any luck, spring will decide to stay around a little while longer!

Learning to Un-Read

So, my website is up and running pretty smoothly so far. I've gotten some nice feedback on it (thanks to everyone who offered some up) and with that out of the way, I can now get back to business and get back to writing. Or revising. Well, both actually.

But I think I also need to find time to do the one thing that I used to love, and now seem to have no time for.

Reading.

I firmly believe that one can't be a good writer unless one is a reader as well. Trouble is, not only do I not have the kind of time I used to (oh, why can't there be another two or three hours in a day strictly for me time?) but I don't enjoy reading the way I used to, either.

It's not that there aren't any decent books in my TBR stack. There are. I'm currently reading two books right now. Philip Norman's Lennon: The Life and Joe Torre/Tom Verducci's The Yankee Years. Both books are quite good, in very different ways, of course, but I just don't itch to get back to them. I read a little when I eat lunch and that's about it. Once upon a time, I'd devour a book every day or two. Now... well... I've been reading the Philip Norman book since Christmas Day (it was a gift from my husband.)

It took me about three months to get through a Lisa Kleypas historical romance before the holidays. Again, it was a good book and I enjoyed it, but not the way I used to. Even Johanna Lindsey, who is one of my must-reads, just doesn't quite do it for me any more.

At first I thought it was just that the stories weren't good. And though a few of Lindsey's have been sub-par compared to her older (and most definitely classic historical romances), I don't think that's it.

Then it hit me.

I don't read like a reader any longer. I read like a writer.

Which means I don't lose myself in the story because I trip over the flaws. Or typos. Or plot holes. And that's not to put down any of these authors or books. Nobody's perfect and it doesn't keep me from buying any more of these authors' books. It simply comes from so much time revising and rewriting my own work. But it drives me crazy. And I'm not entirely sure I can un-learn how to read again.

And I'm not happy about that.

So maybe this weekend, I'll just find a quiet spot and try to lose myself in one of those books. I hope so. I miss reading. I miss it a lot.