Posted by: Author | December 3, 2010

Friday Facts- December 3, 2010- Hanukkiyah

A Hanukkiyah is candelabrum with eight candles in a row and a ninth set a little higher than the other eight. This candelabrum is used at Hanukkah. It is a particular type of menorah for this holiday. One candle is lit the first night of Hanukkah. The second night, two candles are lit and so on until the eighth night of the holiday. A menorah is different than a Hanukkiyah in that it has seven stems as opposed to eight (this is what my research showed but I’m not sure about this- have not tried to call my son’s  girlfriend who could tell me- because she’s celebrating Hanukkah as I write this).  Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that celebrates a time in history where the Jewish people regained their temple and needed to purify it from its use as a place to worship other gods as well as to slaughter swine. They were chagrined  to find there was only one day’s supply of oil in the  temple. They lit the menorah anyway and the oil lasted eight days. 

This miracle of the Hanukkah oil is celebrated every year. The celebration also consists of fried foods (fried in oil)- jelly doughnuts and fried potato cakes called latkes are served.  There’s a lot more to this holiday and I recommend further reading on this celebration.  This blog entry is not designed to be a comprehensive study of the holiday, just an introduction.

To my Jewish friends, enjoy your holiday season.

Don’t forget to join me for an interview at http://danicaavet.wordpress.com/  today.

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Posted by: Author | December 2, 2010

Interview/Danica Avet/Solo Honeymoon

Tomorrow I’m being interviewed by the super fabulous, marvelous, inimitable Danica Avet on her blog. She’s talking to me about my release called Solo Honeymoon.  Here’s the link to her awesomeness: http://danicaavet.wordpress.com/    I first “met” Danica when she posted a comment on one of my Badurday posts here: http://southernsizzleromance.wordpress.com/    We bonded over pictures of hunky men.  Then, I got to meet her at RWA Nationals in Orlando this year.  She’s EPIC!!  Such a cool chick and we had so much fun together. She helped me brain storm one of my novels that needed to  be longer and she also entertained me by running into a door after the FF&P party- I’m not sure how much she had to drink but I think it was only one!!

Anyway, I’m also thrilled that she’s going to be a fellow SirenBookStrand author. She got an offer this week to publish not one, but two of her books!! That is wicked cool. 

We had a great time with the interview. I only told two little fibs in the interview – one was about an autographed book and the name the author wrote when she signed it. I’ll leave it to you to guess the other fib.  Join us tomorrow for a chance to win a shoe charm!

Here’s Danica in Orlando:

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Posted by: Author | December 1, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | November 30, 2010

Donovan Leitch

Donovan Leitch, who went by the one name moniker of Donovan, is up for possible induction into the rock and roll hall of fame. He should have been there long before now, in my opinion. He was one of the first musicians to be part of the 1960s psychedelic movement. He was friends with the Beatles and even collaborated with them on a song or two. He worked with future  members of Led Zepplin- Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.  His song, Sunshine Superman was his first American hit.

One of my favorite songs of his is Season of the Witch.  There’s a commercial now using it as part of their ad campaign. That just shows how durable and long lasting the songs are that he wrote.

Bet ya didn’t know this little factoid: His daughter is the actress Ione Skye.  Her legal name is Ione Skye Leitch.

You may ask why I am nattering on about Donovan or you may be thinking you really don’t care about all this, but I’m going to tell you anyway.  Donovan was the inspiration for the heroine’s father in Solo Honeymoon.  Obviously, he was not the character himself and none of the things I wrote were about him in any way. But a one named folk singer from Britain was such a cool idea, I used it as the inspiration for this character.  This book was released last week and is doing nicely according to the publisher’s website. I’m very happy about that. http://www.bookstrand.com/solo-honeymoon

Let’s all hope Mr. Leitch gets in the hall of fame as he so richly deserves.

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Posted by: Author | November 28, 2010

The Sexy Indian I Wanted to Post on Southern Sizzle Blog

In honor of Thanksgiving, here’s a sexy Indian and Pilgrim. I chose not to put this Indian on the SS blog as I wasn’t sure how the group would like him. This is my personal blog and I can do whatever here.  LOL!

 

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Posted by: Author | November 27, 2010

NaNoWriMo

Got done with the 50,000 word challenge last night- still have more story to write, but have “won” NaNo for the second time in a row. I’ve only done it twice and I’m one of “those” people. I can’t take on a dare or challenge and walk away. It’s not in me. I must soldier on and prevail! It’s part of my charm. *snort*

Last year’s story sold to Desert Breeze Publishing and will come out in July 2011. It’s called Redemption for the Devil.  This year’s is called Obsession.  Last year  I wrote  a historical and this year, a contemporary romantic suspense. Vastly different but somehow similar. They both have villains and real heroes; heroes that must act to save their loves.  That seems to be a theme with me- flawed males that have to be redeemed.  Redeemed in their own eyes, that is.

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Posted by: Author | November 26, 2010

Friday Fact- November 26, 2010- Siren

Someone suggested that since my publisher is SirenBookStrand, that I should post about sirens on my Friday Fact on this week that my novel, Solo Honeymoon was released. So, here I am, taking that suggestion. Sirens are mythological characters. My experience with Sirens was in high school. I took four years of Latin and as part of my education, we read The Odyssey by Homer (and yeah, I know he was Greek but when the Latin teacher says read and translate, she means it).  We certainly didn’t translate the whole thing, just parts.

The Sirens seduced men with their voices. These part bird, part women creatures lured men toward them with songs. The men would follow the sound of the music and end up drowned on the rocks. Ulysses heard about the sirens from Circe and was determined to hear them sing.  He wanted to survive, though, so he had his men tie him to the mast of his ship. He had them all plug their ears with beeswax and not listen themselves so that the ship wouldn’t be lost at sea. He made them  promise not to untie him no matter how he begged.  He was thus able to hear the music and be safe.

It’s appropriate that my publisher is named SirenBookStrand. They publish a lot of erotica. I can totally see this as alluring. To both men and women. I myself write for the tamer side, BookStrand, which publishes mainstream romance rather than erotica.  It’s a great place to be.

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Posted by: Author | November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. My oldest son got home at four a.m. and it was great to have him here. He’s in his last year of architecture school and his school is a nine hour drive away so once the semester starts, we don’t see him very often.  We had lunch at my parents’ house and now we’re home and are watching Scott Pilgrim. I saw this with the oldest son at the theatre, but the spouse and  younger son haven’t seen it. It’s a little bit odd, but the family is all in the same room, so I’m there.

Every year, I make a picture of the kids in front of my mom’s house after Thanksgiving dinner.  We missed it last year as we went down to visit the oldest at school, so this is the first in two years.  Usually before it’s over, we have silliness and this year was no exception.  I love my boys!

I hope you all had as great a day as we did.

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Posted by: Author | November 24, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

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Posted by: Author | November 23, 2010

RELEASE DAY!! WOO HOO!!

It’s here!  Solo Honeymoon is released.  http://www.bookstrand.com/solo-honeymoon–

EDITED TO ADD:  as of 3:00 Central time, I was #9 on the list of bestsellers of mainstream books for the month for my publisher’s website. That’s so awesome and I thank any of you that bought a copy today.

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