Month: December 2009

Turkin Soup

I have reached that point in the pre-Christmas season where I feel like I’m going nuts. Too much to do! Not enough time!

The good news is that Eldest Son made it home yesterday without incident. His flight was delayed, but not for several hours like it was last year. I made homemade turkin soup last night with my mom’s Thanksgiving carcass, which I’ve had in the deep freeze. E.S. loves turkin soup. That’s soup made from turkey bones, whatever turkey meat falls off the bones while you’re making the broth, then, if you don’t have enough meat, you add cooked chicken breast. Turkey + Chicken = Turkin Soup. And I make a mean turkin soup, if I do say so myself.

We’ll have it again after Christmas, too. With a new dead turkey body. Um, carcass.

Anyway, I’ll still be hanging around the blog (although not every day), because I have some stuff coming up that I don’t want you to miss. I might not post tomorrow (but then again I might…), but drop by Friday, because my group blog, Nobody Writes It Better, is holding a contest from Dec. 18th – Dec. 24th and I’ll announce all the details here when I know them. Which will be sometime on Friday.

I’m also blogging at Nobody Writes It Better on Christmas Eve! Don’t ask me how I get these dates when I’m one of the two blog schedulers. Let’s just say I don’t believe in fiddling with my dates at the expense of another member’s. Because I am jolly! That’s why.

I have no idea what I’ll blog about. Rudolph seems a fair bet, but you’ll have to wait until Dec. 24th to find out why.

Is anyone else getting caught up in crazy Christmas preparations?

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Categorized as This & That

Buy Penny’s Latest!

Secrets-28Secrets Volume 28: SENSUAL CRAVINGS, which includes Penny’s third erotic romance novella, is now shipping from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells, Borders, and Red Sage. You know what this means, right? Lucky Americans can order Secrets 28 in time for Christmas! (If they’re quick).

Canadians can pre-order from Canadian Amazon for delivery in 2-3 weeks, alas, alack, amiss. But, hey, we can still order!

Here’s a blurb of the four novellas contained within Secrets 28:

THE PIRATE’S POSSESSION – JULIET BURNS
When Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick tries to bargain with a fierce pirate for escape across the water to her childhood home, she unwittingly becomes the possession of Merciless MacGowan, a fierce privateer on the run from Cromwell’s army. Ewan MacGowan has been betrayed and mistakenly exacts revenge on this proud noblewoman. He may have stolen the lady’s innocence, but buried beneath her plain exterior lies a hidden treasure he never thought to find: the true woman of his heart.

SEDUCING SERENA – JENNIFER LYNNE
Serena Hewitt has given up on love. Her experience has taught her there’s no such thing as ‘Mister Right’, but when she interviews for a potential partner she’s not prepared for her overpowering sexual attraction to Nicholas Wade, a fun-loving bachelor with bad-boy good looks and a determination to prove her wrong. But Nick’s hiding a secret that might just do the opposite. Can two people afraid of love risk exposing their hearts one last time?

MIND GAMES – KATHLEEN SCOTT
Damien Storm is a Varti—a psychic who can connect to one special person to communicate with telepathically. For three years he’s tried in vain to get his Vartek partner, Jade, to acknowledge their link, but fear has made her keep him at a distance, even as he’s bared his heart and soul to her in order to gain her trust. He will do anything to know the sweetness of her body and mind in closer proximity, but first he must save her from the forces of the government who wish to see all Varti destroyed.

KISS ME AT MIDNIGHT – KATE ST. JAMES
TV co-hosts Callie Hutchins and Marc Shaw fake an on-air romance to top November sweeps, but before long the battle of the sexes burns up the sheets and the ratings. Callie thinks Marc is a womanizer who should help her snag her dream job…on the other side of the country. As the month progresses, however, she realizes Marc isn’t the handsome playboy he portrays on their show—he’s funny, kind, and too sexy for words, damn it. So…can she give him up when November ends?

What are you waiting for? Penny needs chocolate chip cookies! She’s not allowed to buy any until she sells some books!

Box ‘O Books Winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my 2009 BOX ‘O BOOKS HOLIDAY GIVE-AWAY. Between entries in the comment trail, Facebook, and emailed entries, I had 28 names this year and numbered them as they reached me. Random draw announced #20 as the winner—Karen from the comment trail. Congratulations, Karen! You’ve won the box of contemporary romances plus a copy of my romantic comedy, HEAD OVER HEELS. Please look for an email from me in your in-box, and I’ll send the books off to you early next week.

If you didn’t win and would like to learn more about my books, please visit my website pages for HEAD OVER HEELS and BORROWING ALEX. E-Books are available from Amber Quill Press, and trade paperbacks and Kindle editions are available from Amazon. I also have a Buy from Author page for Canadians (Canadian Amazon doesn’t carry the books, but you may order from American Amazon or from myself) or if someone wants an autographed copy.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all! If my TBR pile gets out of control again in 2010, I’ll hold another Box ‘O Books contest next December.

‘Tis the Season to Paint the Bathroom, Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-FLOP

The “flop” is me falling down from exhaustion.

Sure, it’s a small bathroom, but did I really need to paint it now? So what if “paint the bathroom” has been on my to-do list for two years? So what if all the towel bars kept falling off the walls? So what if My Liege and I were replacing the towel rods in the kids’ bathroom, so figured now would be a good time to replace the aging rods in our bathroom, too? So what if M.L. didn’t see the point in painting the bathroom just because we were replacing the rods? I saw the point, and isn’t that what matters?

So what if I painted the room the exact same color as it was before? You know what? (So what?) It looks great! But I’m glad the job is done. (So what!)

I think I felt the need to paint the bathroom in the hectic weeks preceding Christmas, because I find it hard to write between Christmas shopping and planning for Eldest Son coming home, picking out the tree, trying not to strangle myself at the thought of hosting Christmas dinner two years in a row (usually, I’m an every-other-year sort of girl), writing the Christmas letter, buying the cards, remembering I forgot to the buy stamps, etc. etc.  So I might as well spruce up the house.

Anyone else have this affliction?

Sure, I have a TON of “must paints” on the to-do list for 2010. That’ll teach me for ONLY painting the bathroom. But that’s life.

This year I’m sending out Christmas letters with our cards as has been my habit for most of the years of my marriage. Every once in a while, I skip a year. I skipped last year, so I felt duty bound not to skip this year. That would mean, gasp, skipping two years in a row. In this day and age of email, do you still send out cards and/or Christmas letters? My Liege has suggested a time or two that I should email the letter instead of snail-mailing it. But I figure Canada Post can use the business. And as much as I love receiving emailed Christmas letters and cards, I admit I love receiving the paper versions more. It feels more Christmasey to arrange the cards on the piano and/or the fireplace mantel.

When I was a kid, my mom would let me and my brother and sister have the Christmas cards after New Year’s Day. We’d cut them up and make collages and stuff—after a rigorous selection process of deciding who got which cards. We’d start “claiming” cards as they came in the mail. But if your name wasn’t drawn first, you might be out of luck. We’d choose the cards turn by turn, then get into the creative stuff. It was a blast.

There, a tip to keep your children occupied over the holidays. Don’t say I never did anything for you. 😉

By the way, this is the last day to enter my 2009 BOX ‘O BOOKS HOLIDAY GIVE-AWAY. For details, click here.

Kindles for Canadians! At Last!

Yes, you heard it here – probably last. The Kindle is finally available in Canada. Well, we have to buy it from the U.S. Kindle store, but the point is, we can finally buy it. And, depending on where you live in the Great White North, we can use the wireless technology to download books, too.

I checked the service area for my town, and the wireless technology IS available. You know what this means, don’t you? Anyone who wants to buy me a Kindle and ship it to me for Christmas can now do so. Feel free!

In other news, only two days remain in my 2009 BOX ‘O BOOKS HOLIDAY GIVE-AWAY. For details on how to enter, click here.

Welcome Guest Blogger Bonnie Edwards

IDEAS ARE ON EVERY STREET CORNER… (LIKE HOOKERS edwards_picWAITING TO BE PICKED UP)

Thanks Cindy for inviting me here today! What fun! I’m thinking no one here knows how we met. Several years ago, I recall waiting anxiously to pitch story ideas at a conference. In the line up was a gorgeous woman with a great smile and beautiful eyes who looked as nervous as I felt. We discovered we were both pitching to an editor for Harlequin Temptation. We both loved the line and thought our stories would work there. (After all that was the hottest line we could find at the time.)

Guess what? Neither of us ever sold to Temptation. But over the years we kept in touch sporadically through email and in hallways at conference hotels. I sold elsewhere…then I heard she’d sold…and guess what? We both write erotic romance (Cindy under a pen name) and love it. I’ve decided the market finally caught up to us when longer, more erotic stories bloomed. And here we are today!

How cool is that?

edwards_breathlessEver wonder where writers get their ideas? So do I. I get mine anywhere and everywhere. One time, I saw a young woman driving with tears streaming down her cheeks. Hm.

Had her parents just told her they hated the new man in her life? That he was a con artist? A nose-picker? A wanted fugitive?

Just the other day, I walked by a couple on a street corner in the middle of a no-holds-barred argument. I mean, it was cold, brutal, tell it like it is relationship-killing stuff. She was furious! Chin tilted, eyes defiant and wide to hold in angry tears. He was on the attack. (Verbally, of course…but my dh kept an eye on the guy just in case she needed help if things turned physical— my hero!)

The conversation revolved around her desire for him to spend huge bucks. Yes, it was that clear what they were arguing about.

Did I make a judgement on them with one flick down her well-dressed, perfectly coiffed and made up face and body? Yes, I did.

He liked trophies and she liked being one. What she didn’t like was being called on it. The body language from this pair was superb, though.

I wonder if they’re still together? I wonder if street arguments are part of the drama of their lives? I wonder if on some level they actually like them?

All fodder for the writer’s mind. The other night I celebrated with a dinner out at a real restaurant with linen placemats instead of paper. We watched a van pull over and park. No one got out. By the time dinner was over I’d decided the driver was tucking body parts into the rug he had rolled up in the back.

I’m sick and I know it.

Good thing I’m a writer or my family would be worried. Or afraid. Very afraid.

So, as readers, do you ever make up stories for things you see or conversations you overhear? Do you ever re-write the ends of novels to suit yourself?

I’m excited to offer BREATHLESS to one lucky person who comments…come on folks, spill your guts…you know you want to. (Just not on street corners please, it’s distracting to the other pedestrians.)

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Please leave a comment for Bonnie to enter to win BREATHLESS. If you’re reading Bonnie’s post on Facebook or another social network, please note that you need to leave your comment at http://www.museinterrupted.com in order to be eligible for the draw.

To read Bonnie’s bio and the back cover blurb for BREATHLESS, refer to yesterday’s post. To learn more about Bonnie and her books, visit her website.

To learn if Cindy bribed Bonnie for the nice compliments…well, let’s just get it over with and state that yes, Cindy did.