Posted by: Author | April 8, 2013

Happy Monday?

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. We had out local RWA chapter meeting and had a great speaker. It was nice to see old friends as well as new prospective members. We had quite a nice group of newbies at the meeting. Fresh blood, so to speak.

I ate Pho with my son on Friday night. Since we’re the only two who like it, I only get to go when he’s home unless I go alone. The place we go isn’t close to my office so I can’t really go for lunch so it’s rare I get dinner there.

I worked on polishing the YA novel on Saturday and wrote the synopsis on Sunday after lunch at my folks’ house. I actually read a book as well so it was a nice weekend of work and relaxation.

Now, it’s Monday and I’ve already had issues with yahoo email and road drainage construction work near my house. I’m sure it’ll improve soon. The power of positive thinking, right? How was your weekend?

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Posted by: Author | April 6, 2013

Friday Facts- April 5, 2013- Popcorn

Dang- I just realized this never posted so here’s Friday Facts a day late.

What makes popcorn pop? It’s a form of corn or maize and regular corn on the cob doesn’t pop so what makes this type of maize turn into a tasty snack that goes well with movies?

Popcorn has a different kind of husk than the ones we normally see on the table at meal time. This husk allows it to open when heated to a certain level. Each kernel of popcorn has a bit of water in the center of starch. Once heated, that water expands and turns into steam. The steam escapes as the popcorn get hotter. Then the starch inside the corn expands into the puffy white stuff surrounding the hull and becomes that tasty treat we love. The kernels swell to 40-50 times their original size with the heat. How cool is that?
Popcorn
Here’s a neat thing I learned as well. Native Americans believed that in each popcorn hull there lived a spirit. They believed when the spirit got angry that it would explode and escape from the hull. Next time you eat popcorn, think about that. A bowlful of former homes of angry spirits may not be the best way to look at this food. What do you think?

Here’s a more scientific explanation if you’re curious.

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Posted by: Author | April 4, 2013

SALE, SALE, SALE!

Hot Pursuit, my sexy story with Ellora’s Cave’s Blush line is on sale for half price for the month of April on AllRomanceE Books. That makes it only $3.25 and since it’s 85,000 or so words, I did the math for you. You’re only paying .000038 per word. I mean, really, isn’t that a bargain? And heck if you don’t like some of the words (and you might since the heroine lets some bad ones fly on occasion), you’re still getting a bargain at the price per word rate.

Anyway, I was excited to learn it was on sale and thought I’d share that. Here’s a link (if you notice, they have my name spelled wrong so it’s not on my author page) or you can click the picture of the cover. hotpursuit_msr

This is a chase across the globe romantic suspense novel. There’s a sexy Interpol agent, a sassy lawyer, a French guy who thinks he’s a lothario, a lot of excitement and a bit of a mystery about the heroine’s real identity. I had a blast writing this one!

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Posted by: Author | April 3, 2013

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | April 1, 2013

THE END!

I typed The End yesterday on that young adult novel I’ve been having such a blast writing. It ended up (first draft numbers) with 60,500 words. It was super fun to write this character – her name is Cali French and she’s an absolute hoot. I like her so much that I made the ending such that if anyone wants to hear from her again that she’s ready for another adventure.

For those of you who know my pet peeve of needing a satisfying ending to a story and not to be left hanging, I also made that happen in this story. This is more of a straight YA book as opposed to a romance and that’s okay, too. I love the protagonist characters so much. They’re all pretty special.

This story is a bit of a departure in the YA genre as the heroine has both parents. Lots of the YA fiction I’ve read has only one parent active in the kid’s life. I wanted to show it’s possible to have a great family dynamic as well as a good story. I hope I succeeded.

I worked out a lot of personal angst in this one and am looking forward to getting it in shape to send out.

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Posted by: Author | March 29, 2013

Friday Facts- March 19, 2013- Tulips

I woke up this morning with tulips on my mind. I’m writing a YA novel and I had an idea that the protagonist should receive some flowers before the denouement. For some reason my mind settled on yellow tulips so then I had to crawl out of the bed and go look up the meaning of yellow tulips. Then I remembered it’s Good Friday and realized that tulips are a great thing to talk about today since they are also symbols of new birth and Easter.

Tulips are originally from Turkey and Iran (bet you thought they originated in Holland, didn’t you?). They are still the national flower of both those countries. When the flowers were introduced to Europe, people called them tulips as they reminded them of the turbans worn by the Turks.

Different colors of tulips have different meanings with the overall meaning being perfect love.

Red means true love, purple means royalty, orange means happiness and white is for forgiveness and purity. The yellow meaning has evolved over the years to go from hopeless love to now meaning cheerful thoughts and sunshine. Both of these apply to my YA story so it’s cool that that’s the color and flower I woke with in my mind. I love how the brain works.

Have a wonderful and blessed Easter weekend. It’s my #2 son’s birthday today and my #1 son is coming home so we’ll be having a fine feast.

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Posted by: Author | March 27, 2013

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | March 25, 2013

What a Weekend!

I had a roller coaster ride of a weekend. First, I was treated like garbage on Saturday by someone I long considered a friend and was tossed out on my ear into the pouring rain. Got my feelings hurt as well as got drenched. My clothes, my hair, my purse, my laptop case and I all had to do a big dry-out when I got home. I’ve decided that from now on, I can’t set myself up for that kind of treatment. I’m too valuable to myself even if not to certain other people. I’m a big believer in forgiveness and I have forgiven the person who hurt me so callously but that doesn’t mean I’m going back for more of the rude treatment.

On Sunday, we bade farewell to my nephew and his wife who have been stationed in Italy for the last three years and have been here for three weeks between duty stations. They are leaving for California on Tuesday. It was good to spend time with them.

Sunday afternoon, on the invitation of my friend who lives in Tallahassee, I drove over early for my court hearings on Monday and spent the night with her. She’s a lot of fun and loves to laugh. She cooked steaks which we enjoyed with another friend and her husband who is beginning a big case today. He’s a prosecutor and is trying the first murder case in Leon County where there’s never been a body recovered. He’s got oodles of evidence and it was interesting to hear about the case.

We also downed a couple of bottles of wine and giggled and carried on until midnight. I needed this time with her to let me know that I am a valuable person and deserve to be treated as such. I need more people in my life like her. She treasures me and lets me know. In the over 25 years that I’ve known her, she’s never, ever hurt me. We’re going on a cruise together in May with another friend and it’s going to be epic!

How was your weekend?

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Posted by: Author | March 22, 2013

Friday Fact- March 22, 2013- Gideon vs Wainwright

This week saw the anniversary on the 18th of a pivotal US Supreme court case called Gideon v. Wainwright. It was a 1962-63 case. Mr. Gideon was a poor man who was arrested on suspicion of stealing wine and some money from a vending machine in a pool hall in Panama City, Florida. He asked the state court judge to appoint him a lawyer but the court refused since at the time, Florida only appointed free lawyers for indigent people in capital cases (a capital case is one that you can get the death penalty on).

Mr. Gideon was convicted and wrote his own appeal to the Supreme Court on prison stationery (in pencil). The Court decided to hear the case and appointed a Washington D.C. lawyer (Abe Fortis- who was himself later elevated to the US Supreme Court) to represent Mr. Gideon in the appeal.

Justice Hugo Black, for the Court, held that “In our adversary system of criminal justice, any person hauled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him. This seems to us to be an obvious truth.”

Mr. Gideon got his state paid for lawyer and a new trial in Florida. His lawyer did a bang-up job and Mr. Gideon was found not guilty.

There are some real problems with our legal system in the USA but this case is an important one for the rights of the little guy in criminal cases.

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Posted by: Author | March 21, 2013

Another New Cover- A 20th Century Historical Novel

I love this cover. It shows the corridor of the Queen Mary with some spirits at the end of the hallway. Check out that knife, too. *shivers*

This one is coming April 21, 2013 from Desert Breeze Publishing. 562724_10151314229227027_1418811812_n

Blurb:
Bernadette McSwain’s family has a strong connection to the Queen Mary ocean liner. They’re invited to sail on the Queen’s final voyage to her new home in Long Beach, California in 1967. Bernadette and her cousin, Michel are writing a book on the spirits who haunt the mighty ship. Bernadette’s psychic abilities help in their research. They meet a young Spanish grandee, Lazarus Garcia, who’s on the ship as a chef to learn to run his own first class restaurant. He’s surrounded by anguished spirits whom Bernadette can see. When passengers start to die in violent ways, Bernadette suspects Lazarus of the crimes. This suspicion causes a rift between the cousins as Michel has befriended the Spaniard. As the voyage continues and Lazarus tries to charm her, Bernadette must make a decision about him or face losing her cousin, both literally and figuratively.

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