Wacky Wednesday

Hey, everybody. I have a secret. What is it? I'm glad you ask! I just sold The Virgin Pirate to Respendence!!! Am I excited? I'm glad you ask! My husband had to scrape me off the ceiling.

Titillating Tuesday

That's an appropriate title since I am working on a new book. Don't have a name yet, it's my attempt at Steampunk as in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Lots of research required, but I'm enjoying the possibilities. Rhianna is a witch and her father, a well known alchemist, has been kidnapped. Now someone is trying to kidnap her, but Maximillian Spencer is on the job!! In more ways than one.

I love writing, but I've developed a new passion. Painting. I'm trying to learn to do portraits. Did a pretty good job on a portrait of my grandson. The sun is shining today with the promise of 80 degree weather!! What more can we ask for? I'm going to clean my bathrooms and get out my summer clothes, then I'm going to paint!! Sounds like a fun day to me!

Moaning Monday

No, I'm not going to moan today. I don't have time. Remember time if flying by. I'm just going to rant and rave a minute about a horrible e-mail I got this morning which was forward supposedly by a man who was a marine and has worked hard and has a quarter million dollar condo which his daughter and grand daughter live in while he and his wife live somewhere else. He didn't give a lot of information on that property. He sanctimoniously said he worked hard for the things he owned. (He was a five term state senator.) and he had a lot of other stuff to say about people who won't work and expect those who do to support them, to spread the wealth around. I wonder if that man ever considered that he had some extra perks along the way. Obviously, a good education, otherwise he wouldn't have been a state senator for five terms and that's the biggest plus. But he probably also came from a good home where he got three squares a day, clean clothes to wear every day, a warm bed, his own room, a p.c. and the inspiration and encouragement to make more out of his life. Does he ever ask himself would I ever have done so well if I'd come from behind like some of these people are doing? So stick your nose in the air, you jerk and keep it there, while I pray for a heavy downpour!!!

Silly Sunday

Wow, I woke up grouchy this morning and still am frowning. I think my face froze that way. Everything that anyone said today made me even grumpier. I managed to keep my mouth shut and not blurt out what I was really thinking and this was at church. At one point, I said a little prayer to God, Put a guard over my mouth. It hasn't worked so far. I've been ranting and raving about people all day long.

Well, I'm going to not think about any of that. I'll think about it tomorrow!! Now what famous southern miss said that?

I'm going to write about my books. I have four out to e-publishers. One is a vampire book. A beautiful, but dowdy librarian is bitten by a vampire and saved just in the nick by a vampire hunter with a special potion But as the vampire venom wages a battle within her body with the Holy Potion, she undergoes drastic changes. She becomes a hot, sexy babe with a taste for stilettos, sexy lingerie and grade A blood, in a plastic bag, if you please. She also develops the hots for a Romanian Vampire Killer and together they wipe out a bunch of the nasties while doing the nasty themselves.

Dirty Little Secrets is the name of my second book and it's about Billie Stone, a con artist who's made her first million and is working on her second when she sees something she shouldn't have, a murder! Now she has the mob. a sexy Detroit bunco squad detective and a rookie police officer after her. But Billie is hard to catch and she has no hesitation to blow up a police car and a gangland's bada bing place of business, or be partner to stealing a brand new Porche from the Detroit Auto Show among other outrageous antics.

The Bliss Shop is the creation of Bliss Maxine Donovan and she doesn't take kindly to having a beautiful prostitute killed in her changing room or to being blamed for the murder. Despite her mistrust of lawyers, she hires a sharp criminal attorney, Sam Tucker and together they set out to find the real killer and in so doing find a little bliss for themselves

I love a good pirate story!!! The first book I ever wrote was a pirate story. This one is about Nellie Bouchard, the daughter of a famous pirate, Black Jack Bartlet who was hanged for his shenanigans. Raised among pirates, Nellie knows how to handle herself with a motley crew. She captains her own ship but knows nothing of the way between men and women. When they capture an English Frigate she meets a handsome Englishman who's all too ready to remedy that situation.

There, I feel better writing about adventure and romance! Hope to hear something soon from my publishers and find that I've sold one or two of my little stories. I'll keep you posted.

Pick up the Pace, Life is flying by

Yo, so check it out, dude. Obviously, I've been watching too much American Idol which is not as much fun this year. Is it me or them? Anyway, it's spring time, a perfect excuse to 'spring' into a new mind set and put aside the fuzzy blanket, the lazy afternoon spent snuggled on the couch watching old movies and get my butt in gear. My house needs attention, hell, my life needs attention, so I've decided to take some short cuts in life. Throw out all the old comfort attitudes and move into a new zone. I'm going to set new goals and drop old projects that have swamped me for the past few weeks and go on to something that grabs me and won't let go.
Before I throw away everything I want to give you a quick potluck cake recipe. I call it:
Bring Home Empty Pan Carrot Cake

1 box of Carrot Cake Box Mix
Add: 1 l5 oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup spiced rum
1/2 to 1 cup raisins your preference
Mix on medium for at 2 minutes. Pour into greased cake pan, bake at temperature recommended on box

Ice with 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 stick marg/butter and enough spiced rum to make icing spreadable. Delicious. My church family loved it.

Friday night at dusk

It's the end of the week, a busy week and my grandson is busy watching Icarly. I think he's in love with her. He's only seven, but he's quite the lady's man. He always juggles a couple of girl friends. I know his bus driver and she keeps me posted.
My pal, my Shih tzu, Gizz is laying in his favorite spot at the foot of the twin bed in my office, looking out the window at the backyard which he guards zealously. My husband spent too much time and energy today cutting down an old wild Maple tree that he's been saying for thirty years, he's going to get rid of. Well now he's done it and I can't help remember that old Russian Classic written by ?, about the old man with an apple or cherry tree. He hated the tree and tried to cut it down but the tree's roots were too deep and hard for him, catching him in their evil clutches so the old man died. Anyway, that spindly, stubborn maple got its revenge because my dear husband is so sore, he can barely walk. Or it could just be that he didn't use common sense and stop and rest, leaving some to do the next day.
Anyway, this entry is suppose to be about me. I guess the people above are as much about me as anyone could get. I've spent a lot of years with that stubborn man and love him dearly and my terrific grandson is a delight to me. Soon, he'll leave iCarly behind and come snuggle up on my king size bed and we'll read books and talk and giggle and tickle, just like I did with his mom. We'll say prayers together and grow sleepy talking about the day's events.
But there is more to me than just my family, although they are the most important part. There's a side of me who likes to paint and write and sing and sew and whatever strikes my fancy! So I want to talk about my writing. I've written and had published 20 historicals, americana westerns, big contemporaries and a mystery. I took a hiatus from writing for a while and now have started up again. Currently I have four books out with e-books. They're fun to write, contemporary, and sexy. They're mostly mysteries because that's what I like to read and write. I'm also working on a Scottish Historical for the main market. I've been writing for 20 years and enjoyed a steady career until health made me take a break! But I'm back now and having a ball! You can take that however you wish since I'm currently writing erotica! That's enough about me for now!!

Late on a windy Night

It's late on a windy night when the house is hushed and quiet. The family dog is sleeping on the twin bed set up here in my office. My husband is asleep in the other room and a night wind howls around the corners of the house like a lost soul searching out a safe haven. I told my grandson one time that our house doesn't have any ghosts and I believe that. I don't think anyone likely died in this house. It was a summer cottage which eventually got added on to and winterized and became a lake house. People came here to have fun and enjoy themselves on hot summer days. One of the previous owners was an engineer and his wife was a painter and if any spirits are here, then theirs might be because I've found myself taking up painting again and am enjoying it a great deal. My husband and I also do a lot of gardening in the summer as did they and my husband is an engineer.
But those people sold the cottage when it got to be too much for them and moved closer to their children, so they left behind vibes of contentment and the peace of acceptance and wise joy. I'm sure this house has echoed with the laughter and shrieks of their grandchildren as it does with mine.
That's a good feeling to have. We've been here nearly forty years now and this old house has sheltered and sustained us. it's our home, so much a part of us we can't envision living anyplace else. It's part of who we are and what we made of ourselves and our marriage and family. When our grandson comes he enjoys himself here because I think he feels the same love and stability. He picks raspberries in the summer with his grandfather and helps in the garden and plays along the shoreline and goes canoeing and boating and bicycling with grandpa. He helps me make cookies and eats big thick slice of my home made bread. He runs and plays until his little body grows hot with the sweet smell of little boy sweat and then he grabs something to drink or a frozen popsicle and starts over again.
Now a granddaughter who lives close by comes over and runs around in the yard, her fat little baby legs doing their best to keep up with big brother, her fine baby hair blowing in the breeze. Big brother puts her in a wagon and pulls her around and up a hill and all the way, her little hand is pointing at the ground. She wants out to run and go under her own steam. What laughter! At times like this you think about God and the reason he puts us on earth and you ask, why me? Why am I given such joy? Why am I so blessed?

Growing in New Directions

So here I am, the second day of blogdom and I managed to get on with only one call for help. This is almost like journaling except I'm ever aware that people can read what I write. So what wisdom should I impart on my blog, what funny nonsense should I utter to make you come back for more? What innermost feelings must I guard?
I guess I'll just tell you a little bit about myself. I live on a lake and the summers are great fun. Winters are not bad either because we cozy in and don't have much in the way of company. We let the house go and instead of dusting read a good book. I like mysteries by the way and of course, romance. I bake more in the winter time. This year I did a marathon on bread baking until my bread machine broke and now I use my dough hook on my mixer, but not as frequently. I love cooking and the food TV network is my favorite channel. That and Desperate Housewives. Even my husband gets caught up in their antics. Of course, he used to love to watch Sex in the City as well. He was surprised at what women think about a lot of things and how sexual we really are. He's from the old fashioned school of thought. But I digress.
In the winter time, I take up a lot of hobbies besides cooking. This year I went back to an old love, painting, which has enriched my life so much. Met two wonderful ladies there and of course our instructor Bob who is a love with sagging jowls and a beautific smile. He never criticizes but gives you great advice on how to make your painting better, but you have to ask. And I guess that's true in so many things in life. We have to ask. We have to take an active passionate approach to everything we do. We have to look at our life, recognize the value of it and look to see how we can make it better and we have to not be afraid to ask. I think that must be my pearl of wisdom for this posting. That we reach out to those around us, to life itself. We have to connect and not be afraid to offer our own passions whatever they are. Sure, we risk failure and rejection, but that's just a part of the whole process. On the other hand we might be successful, then what joy!! We just never know if we don't risk it.

Getting Started in Many Things

Well, I decided I'd join the cyber world in the 21st Century, so here I am with my first blog. Don't what I'm doing yet, but I'm trying. I promise to be funny and interesting and scintillating and whatever else. For now I'm just trying it out, sort of like 'testing 1-2-3. In the future I'll tell you what my family is like, there's a bag of dsyfunctia and brainless humor, but I like each and every one of them from my little Shih Tzu who likes to gnaw on everyone's feet or a little granddaughter of 16 months who thinks she's at least 7 years old or a 7 year grandson who's gifted and funny and thinks he's 21. Anyway, I'll tell you about me because that's the subject I know most about and find most fascinating!! I'll also tell you about my writing career, my progress with learning to paint and my thoughts on many subjects. Be forewarned, I'm an opinionated lady.