New Author Photos

I took new author photos in February. Two things inspired me to do this:

(1) I had a birthday and realized my current author photos are 3.5 years old. I’m attending the RWA National conference in Nashville this year. I can’t have people looking for a Cindy from 3.5 years ago and not finding her. I mean, can you imagine? I have wrinkles I didn’t have 3.5 years ago! I have grays (cleverly disguised for vanity) that I didn’t possess then—not counting the skunk streak, which has hidden in an area behind my right ear since I was 6.

(2) I got my hair cut.

Yes, I know, getting a haircut isn’t a very motivating reason to take new author photos. But I never have morning haircut appointments. This time I did. There had to be a reason for that, right? I was fated to take new author photos!

God knows when I’ll get around to loading them onto my website. I’m targeting next weekend.

“Green Cindy” will probably replace the picture on my Bio page (bigger than it is here):

“Purple Cindy” will likely go on my Home page (smaller than it is here):

“Blue Cindy” is for Facebook and the like. I took it to match the colors of my website, then decided I wanted more contrast. Thus the green and purple.

Little Pisser helped me pick them out. So if you don’t like them, tough. I had one in a black blouse, but she said my chin looked like it was attacking the camera. Can’t have that. Damn pointy Procter chin.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Go out and green yourself. I don’t have to worry about it. I have green eyes. I figure I’ve done my bit.

Who’s My Inspiration

A new Q&A is up on my website! At long last! Finally!

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath (which always reminds me of fish breath, so I really shouldn’t say that about my loyal blog readers). (What’s that, you say? It’s bated breath? My apologies).

Okay, I admit, it’s not really a new Q&A. You got me, I can not tell a lie. As I’ve mentioned, I pulled out of my former group blog recently. In fact, as of today, the entire blog has shut down, so it wasn’t just my fault.

Last summer, on what would have been my grandfather’s 110th birthday had he lived another four years (some people do it!), I posted on the group blog about why he’s my inspiration. I didn’t want to lose that post, and now, thanks to Slightly Rude Canuck, who’s been pestering me to move the post to my own website for several weeks, I won’t have to.

Slightly Rude Canuck, you can now find the post on my Q&A page. Thank you for pushing me to put it there, even though the snarky comment wasn’t strictly required.

Evil Landlady Faces Sentencing

Evil Landlady, who tried to take my son for his apartment damage deposit back in September with the story that his room was damaged in a fire, will be charged today on multiple counts of fraud. This newspaper story says that “one” person got their deposit back. I don’t know if this is my kid or not, because I can’t remember if he reported his incident to the police. Also, I know he helped one other student get his deposit back, too. 

I can’t believe so many people let her get away with it. It didn’t occur to us to allow that to happen. That his deposit was “only” $225 and not the bigger numbers other students got caught with wasn’t the point. Her dishonesty was.

She’ll have to pay back all the deposits.

Kudos to all the fraudees—most of them university students—who had the gonads to report her to the police.

I hope she gets some help.

Here’s another story about the most recent scammees. They did their due diligence and STILL they got scammed. From the paper:

Durning said he’s not sure whether the alleged victims could have done more to protect themselves in this case, as everything seemed to be legitimate. Roy is accused of allowing people to view the place, signing tenancy agreements and giving receipts for cash deposits. She lived in the suite above.

Watch your kids’ backs, everyone!

Dear Delbert,

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you died. Five years in computer age is like 50 years in human time. That’s worse than a dog’s!

Dylan is not only prettier than you, but I don’t have to plug my digital camera into Dylan to upload pictures. There’s a handy little slot for my camera card! Delbert, I loved your operating system, and you were a good, solid workhorse. You saved me from “progressing” to the dreaded Vista, and for that I thank you. But Windows 7 kicks your ass. I love how uncluttered my desktop is thanks to the docking station where I’ve hidden all my program icons. I also have my most-used progam icons in a nice BIG size down on my task bar. I really appreciate how I can right-click on a program and pin my most recently used files to the top of the list for easy access.

Yes, Dylan rocks. And her little cousin, Daisy, is sweet, too.

Daisy isn’t as quick as Dylan. Her start-up speed kind of reminds me of yours. Windows 7 Stater edition doesn’t kick your XP butt, I must say. But Daisy has a purpose, and she fulfills it.

The only thing I miss about you is that my old monitor isn’t compatible with Dylan. Oh, the old monitor works, but I can’t download a Windows 7 driver for my 5-year-old 19-inch Dell flat screen monitor (not impressed with that, Dell!), and the generic driver doesn’t provide me with as many CLEAR viewing options. So now my website looks a lot narrower than I remember it looking on you, which drives me nuts. And I had to get used to reading smaller type on-line. That was annoying.

I shall persevere with the monitor. I refuse to buy another until it dies…like you did, leaving me frustrated and lonely until Dylan came along.

Oh, and Delbert? I don’t appreciate you hiding the style sheet for my website in your coffin! That was a nasty trick. Luckily, I’m quite the mortician and figured out how to unearth it.

Well, I must be off. Time to go smash your old hard drive to smithereens.

Love, Cindy

Move Over, Penny!

I’ve been sitting on this news long enough.

I’m very excited to announce that I’ve sold my 2007 Golden Heart finalist manuscript, WHERE SHE BELONGS, to Five Star Expressions! Yes, you heard me, Cindy rather than Penny (that hog) finally has a new book coming out! In 2011. That’s next year. My new editor informed me that there was ONE (1) slot left for 2011—and it’s been allocated to my book!

If you’re scratching your head wondering, “I’ve never heard Cindy talk about WHERE SHE BELONGS before,” it finaled in the GH Long Contemporary category under the title, HER HOMETOWN MAN.

Okay, that’s all well and good, you say, but what’s Five Star Expressions?

Five Star is a hardcover library imprint, and Expressions is Five Star’s romance line. They also have a mystery line.

Little ol’ me, a book out in hardcover. 🙂 Well, “library binding.” Which is a form of hardcover.

Five Star publishes almost exclusively for the library market. Which means my book won’t be stocked in bookstores, but bookstores can order copies at a customer’s request. The books are also sold on-line at places like Amazon.

I also don’t know at this point if “library market” includes Canada, but wouldn’t it be ultra-cool if one of my books finally appeared in Canadian libraries?

WHERE SHE BELONGS is a dramatic contemporary romance. The hero has a great sense of humor, but the book is definitely a bit of a departure from HEAD OVER HEELS and BORROWING ALEX. This book holds a special place in my heart. It’s about loss, forgiveness, and rediscovering one’s sense of belonging, and it’s set in a fictional B.C. logging town.

Andy, I know you can’t hear me (or maybe you can), but this one’s for you.