Posted by: Author | January 11, 2013

Friday Facts- January 11, 2013- Former President’s Protection Act

In 1965, a law was passed to allow former presidents of the United States to have Secret Service protection for themselves, their spouses (unless they remarry) and children (to a certain age) for life. This law was changed in 1994 to limit that protection to ten years after they left office. It applied to any president who was inaugurated after January 1, 1997.  This left George W. Bush and Barack Obama as the two since then who would have only had the ten years of protection until January 10, 2013 when President Obama reinstated it for the two of them as well as all subsequent presidents.

Richard Nixon is the only president to have ever relinquished his Secret Service protection. He did so in 1985 to save the government money.

I’m reading a book now called Assassin Hunter by August Palumbo whom I met this past weekend. He’s a former ATF agent who also served in the Secret Service. His book is awesome and describes his work on one undercover job. It’s a great read and he’s a wonderful speaker. Check it out here if you like that kind of story.

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Posted by: Author | January 10, 2013

Book Trailer – Doctor, Lover, Baronet

This one was hard to make since I really didn’t know how to do it without giving too much away. I hope this is appealing to the reader and not too vague. LOL! Let me know what you think.

 

 

 

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Posted by: Author | January 9, 2013

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | January 8, 2013

The Next Big Thing – Part Two

THE NEXT BIG THING BLOG HOP

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop is a chance for authors to respond to ten questions about their latest book. The author then tags the person who first tagged them, plus 5 other authors who will post on their blogs the following Wednesday.

Thanks to  JL Hammer for tagging me to participate. Click the link below to find out about her latest romantic suspense, Blue Horizon.

Website: JL-Hammer.com

Here are my answers to the questions- I’ve done this before and this time, I chose to talk about Doctor, Lover, Baronet which will be released on January 22, 2013 by BookStrand Publishing.

jc-doctorloverbaronet-full

Please feel free to comment and ask questions. Here is my Next Big Thing!

1: What is the working title of your book?

Doctor, Lover, Baronet is the final title but for the longest time, it was called A New Day

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

I started writing this in 2007 and I was led to write it because of the issues of socialized medicine being discussed in this country and some of my friends who had bad experiences with that type of medical care in the UK.  I thought the subject was timely back then and little did I know that it would take me so long to quit screwing around with it and submit it.

3: What genre does your book come under?

contemporary romance

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? A young Colin Firth for Colin (of course) and Sandra Bullock for Donya

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A woman falls for her doctor but complications from her medical treatment and the fact that he’s a baronet cause problems for them.

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

BookStrand Publishing will be publishing it on Jan 22, 2013

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

two months but then I rewrote and rewrote it for years. I called it my “dicking around” story since I couldn’t ever leave it alone and be satisfied with it.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Any general contemporary novel. This one is a departure for me since there is no mystery, no dead body and no suspense element. I hope the readers like the departure.

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A friend in the UK who had a collapsed lung and had to wait an abnormally long period of time to get medical attention.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There are a plethora of sex scenes in this one, so if that’s what the reader likes, there will be a lot of that. <g>

Since I did this before and already hit up my buds on that post, I’ve run out of people to tag, I’m not tagging this time since I believe some of the folks I tagged last time played and I don’t want to impose on them to play again.

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Posted by: Author | January 7, 2013

Cool News

I’ve been sick for the last week. It hit on Wednesday and seemed to get worse as the week wore on. I finally dragged open my computer Monday afternoon and imagine my surprise to find that my story from Secret Cravings/Sweet Cravings, The Tainted Keitre, was nominated for best mystery/suspense/thriller of the year from Love Romances Cafe. I’m in some very good company and I’m so excited about this nomination. This story was also nominated for best short story on the preditors and editors site.spanish moss

It’s really great to have these nominations as it reinforces my belief in my own instincts because this is a story I wrote that I submitted to a publisher who had a call out for summer heat stories. They asked me to make quite a few changes to it on a revise and resubmit. I didn’t think the requested changes were true to my characters. It seemed to me that the changes would make the story something it wasn’t intended to be.

I decided to have a friend whom I trust read it. She’s a Cajun and so are my characters. She made a few suggestions that made sense and I incorporated those into the story. I then sent the story to the publisher whom I really felt it would fit with and they accepted it as it was.  So, thanks to a little guidance from Danica Avet and a wonderful publisher who believed in my sassy Cajun characters, I have this nomination. Believe me, the statement you always hear about being nominated is an honor in and of itself is true. I was floored to be nominated.

Here are the other awesome writers in this category:

Best Mystery/ Suspense/Thriller Book
>
> Against the Night by Kat Martin
>
> Delusion In Death by JD Robb
>
> Continental Divide by Lisa Worrall & LE Harner
>
> Cheeky Blonde by Liz Crowe (Decadent)
>
> Fractured Paradise by Alexa Bourne
>
> All for a Dead Man’s Leg by R. Ann Sircusa (Breathless Press)
>
> Out to Protect by Amber Skyze (Loose Id)
>
> Flesh Cartel 1: Captured by Rachel Haimowitz (Riptide)
>
> Photographs & Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape (Carina Press)
>
> The Tainted Keitre by Jillian Chantal (Secret Cravings/Sweet Cravings)
>

 

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Posted by: Author | January 4, 2013

Friday Facts- January 4, 2013- John Tyler’s Grandson

John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States was born in 1790. He was married twice and fathered a number of children with his first wife as well as quite a few with his second one for a total of fifteen children. One of them was born with Mr. Tyler was 63.  That son grew up to marry twice as well and had children into his seventies. Harrison Tyler was born when his father was 75.  Harrison is now 89.

I think this is very intriguing. Being a history buff, I love that he can say his grandfather was the tenth president of the United States.

 

FYI: Surf Break is free this weekend at Amazon.com. Here’s a link if you want it – be fast- it’s free through Sunday.

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Posted by: Author | January 2, 2013

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | January 1, 2013

New Years Day- 2013

I’m curious about your 2012. Was it overall good, bad or indifferent? Strangely, I keep seeing statements on blogs and Facebook that 2012 wasn’t so great for a lot of people. I find that disturbing. Now, I had some rough times in 2012 including my mother’s stroke, the death of my pet, and losing a friend who I found had really never been my friend in the first place but truly, the good totally outweighed the bad. I have happy and healthy children, I traveled to England and Scotland, saw a favorite cousin’s son marry, wrote some great stories (that hardly anyone read but I enjoyed writing), had fun with friends, held myself together and pulled off an amazing conference in March even through some personal stress, had an amazing year in the legal job and have my own health as I’m rarely sick and take no prescription medicine. All in all, a very good year.

We should certainly not forget the hard times. They make us stronger and hone our sympathies and empathies for our fellow men but dang, it makes me sad that so many folks were ready to see the end of 2012. Mayhaps they should’ve gone off with the Mayans?

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Posted by: Author | December 31, 2012

The Dreaded Mother-in-Law Curse

My own mother-in-law was a mean, unhappy woman who didn’t like me. She even once told me that when my husband married me that it was like he died. I was quite stunned at that statement and resolved that I would do all in my power to be a good mother-in-law and from the time each of my sons was born, I prayed that I could at least like the person they would choose to live their lives with. The thing I forgot to pray about was that the person they chose would like me. I don’t know why that never crossed my mind- perhaps my ego thought that wouldn’t be an issue.

Anyway, the girl my elder son is marrying in October is crazy about him and that makes me happy. She’s a sweet person but it makes me sad every time they visit since she seems not to want a relationship with any of us other than my son. On past visits, I often invited her to do things with me and she would say yes to my face but when it would be time to go, she would go in my son’s room and close the door until I was gone.

This time, I decided not to put myself out there and try to get her to interact with me one on one. Amazingly, she still hurt my feelings. The spouse and son were going to run an errand that would take like ten minutes when we left a restaurant one night. We had come in two cars and I was going to car when the spouse suggested (not me) the fiancee ride home with me and the younger son. She refused and said she’d go along for the errand. Then, a couple of days later, my son got a new car stereo and was installing it. She and I were in the living room and she suddenly got up and left. A few minutes later, the son came in and said he didn’t know why he had an audience out there. I said, “huh?” She was out there in the 35 degree weather watching him. I can only surmise from that that she didn’t want to be in the room with me since it was in the 30s and windy. Not comfortable at all.  There have been other minor things but they add up to a lot of hurt for me.

The last three days, she has been in hurry to leave. It makes me sad that I’ll never  enjoy time with my son with her ready to be gone almost as soon as she gets here. All she talks about is her parents this, her parents that.

Is the mother-in-law relationship inherently evil? Are all the jokes and cliches true and is there no way to get around that? Is there really any daughter-in-law who has a relationship with her mother-in-law that exists separate from the relationship with the son? Am I being unrealistic? I only know one woman who does things with her daughter-in-law as a friend. Can it happen or am I just an eternal optimist? I really want to know because I’m driving myself crazy trying not to be hurt and trying to figure out what’s wrong with me that she doesn’t want to even be in a room with me alone. Any mothers in law out there with advice?

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Posted by: Author | December 28, 2012

Friday Facts- December 28, 2012- Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes was a philosopher in the 1600s. He wrote Leviathan. He was a proponent of a strong central government led by an absolute ruler but he also espoused the rights of the individual and that all political power should be representative and by the consent of the people. He lived during the time of the English civil war and even though he was English, he lived mostly in Paris. He also wrote about social contract theory. He’s known as one of the great political philosophers of all time.

My younger son is a political science and philosophy hound. He loves these topics and has amassed quite a library of philosophical texts and is minoring in the subject in college. My older son has always loved the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes. He’s been a fan since he could read. Both of my sons and the future daughter-in-law met me at the pet shelter on the 27th to pick out a kitten for my birthday.

I’ve always been a proponent of a pet picking the owner and this is exactly what happened this time as well. We opened the door to the room with the kitties and this one started meowing and leaping about in its cage. I stuck my finger in the cage and he rubbed against it and licked me. #2 son stuck his hand in and the same thing happened. We looked around at the other kittens and then went to the other kitty room. There was a sweet one in there but it was already sold to a pet store (which surprised me) so we went back to that first room and opened the cage to Mr. Loudmouth. #1 son took the kitty out and he was cuddly and nice and purred like a maniac but he tried his best to get to me. Once I was holding him, he climbed all over me, licking my neck and face and rubbing his head on my face.

I told #2 son to take him and the kitty was all cuddly with him, too but was quickly ready to come back to me. So, decision made, we adopted him. The kids named him Hobbes. Each loved the name for a different reason per the above preferences. Our new buddy had to be neutered so we can’t pick him up until today after noon but here is our little new family member, Hobbes.

Hobbes

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