Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Romance By the Blog

I've really got to learn more about the workings of my blog. I realized a while back that I didn't have a link to my good pal Tawny Weber's blog, yet have I sat down and tried to figure out how to remedy that? No. Tonight, I was going through emails and realized I had another big goof. I don't have a link to one of the hottest romance blogs there is. It's run by my pal Michelle Buonfiglio and she's smart, sassy, and in the know about romance. She's got some great things lined up for December that anyone interested in the Erotic Romance industry, whether as a reader or a writer, should definitely check out her blog.


Romance: By the Blog "Hot Topic Week: Eros, Erotica, and Erotic Romance," Dec. 4-8
This week of GuestBlogs is constructed to get a dialogue going about what erotica and erotic romance are and are not, as well as what access to the literature has done for women who read it. Bestselling author Ian Kerner, Ph.D. also will discuss women and sexual fantasy. Here's the line-up:
Kate Duffy, Senior Editor, Brava/Kensington, 12.4
Adam Nevill, Author/Erotica Editor, Virgin Books, 12.5
Jaid Black, Author/CEO Ellora's Cave, 12.6
Ian Kerner, Ph.D., Author/Sex and Relationships expert, 12.7
Emma Holly, Author, 12.8
Join Michelle for a great week of guest bloggers. Also, if you haven't checked out her Romance: B(u)y the Book weekly feature, do yourself a favor and do so! She's awesome and has great reviews and interviews posted. I've posted the link to the website below.

Romance: B(u)y the Book
Weekly Reviews, Exclusive Interviews, More!
Exclusively on InternetBroadcasting's national platform of more than 70 TV station websites including www.WNBC.com/romance (New York)
Romance: By the Blog


And, yeah, I like her even though she is beautiful and classy. What can I say? She's also nice, witty, and just thinking about her always brings a smile to my face.


Monday, November 27, 2006

Bad Blogger Feeling Inspired

Lots of family stuff going on and I have eaten more than you would believe. Between that and my bum knee from the breast cancer walk (yes, it's still bothering me!), my weight is...well, we won't talk about it. ;)

Today was a day of mixed emotions. I had friends get good news & friends who got bad news. The writing industry is so hard. It's a business that deals with people's dreams. Not for the faint of heart. Yet, how can you not have your heart out there when it's your dream involved? Anyway, I'm so proud of my friends--the good news ones & the bad news ones. They are all out there chasing their dreams and facing the crap that's slung their way in the process.

I'm working on an article on quotes that inspire people to go after their dream and not give up. ((I do a monthly article/column for the FROM THE HEART Newsletter)) Oddly enough, I'd chosen this topic several weeks ago and started the article. Tonight seemed like an appropriate time to work on it.

So, with that in mind, here's my inspiring quote of the day:

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain." ~ Dolly Parton

I want the rainbow. Somebody toss me an umbrella.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

Had my first turkey dinner tonight and several more to go before the weekend finishes. Tonight's meal was with my in-laws and was YUMMY. :) I'm cooking tomorrow & making non-traditional stuff--barbecue ribs, homemade mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, homemade rolls, broccoli & cheese, & a homemade pie...probably buttermilk although I have stuff to make apple, too. Cause we have my parent's to go to on Saturday & will have turkey. & my Grandparents on Sunday & will have turkey. Thought something different would be nice. How about the rest of you? Do you do anything non-traditional on Thanksgiving? Of course, in the original Thanksgiving day meal they had lobster and clams along with their wild turkey. :)

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Sunday, November 19, 2006

Rowena Cherry & fans!

Wow! I opened my mail (from yesterday, yes, I'm behind--what else is new? ;) and there was a check from romance author ROWENA CHERRY that she'd collected for the breast cancer walk!!! It's a wonderfully generous check & I'm tickled pink! This will put me over my goal & then some!

Rowena read about my walk for breast cancer in FRESH FICTION's newsletter and rallied her fans to pull together to help support me. How cool is that?????

So, y'all be sure to check out Rowena's website at www.rowenacherry.com and look for her upcoming release INSUFFICIENT MATING MATERIAL. Rowena writes sci-fi romances with lots of humor. Or better yet, shoot Rowena an email saying thanks for supporting women every where!! Because with breast cancer affecting 1 in 8 women, let's face facts, this is a disease that will touch each one of us in some manner.


THANKS ROWENA!!!!!!

Oh, and speaking of the breast cancer walk, one of my local papers ran a touched up version of my blog post about the walk. Yes, I know. A bit scary to think of one of my blogs going into the paper. But they ran it as a follow-up to the front page story I wrote promoting the walk and trying to increase funds.

Here's a link, although it'll only be online until this coming Thursday when the new paper comes out. :) http://www.rutherfordreader.net/Page6.html

Y'all have a great week!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Matthew McConaughey

If you ever wondered why I find the man so hot...well, here's your answer:Thanks to my pal Tawny for sending this pic to me. Ahhhhh, such a good friend.

Monday, November 13, 2006

American Title 3 Round 2

I rarely let my emotions get carried away with me enough to rant online, but tonight, I'm going to rant. Why you might ask? Because one of the judges ditzed firefighters as a hero. Okay, this is my friend Lindsey's entry but even if it wasn't, I'd be offended at this judge's comment. OMG!

Here's the judge's comment:

Hilary Ross -- The author realizes that firemen are killed fairly often in the course of duty but chooses one for her hero anyway. This shadow might hang over the head of the reader -- especially since 9/11-- and slightly spoil the romance.

Hello! Firefighters are HOT & sexy & very heroic. Who better to be a hero if not a firefighter?????? I assume Ms. Ross' personal biases influence her comment, and I feel for all those directly touched by 9/11 (and our entire nation because 9/11 has touched each and every one of us), but I found her comments shallow, and did I mention offensive? Am I wrong here? Are firefighters unheroic because of what happened with 9/11? What about airline pilots who died that day? Police officers? Businessmen? Good Samaritans? Because men from all these fields died in 9/11. Are they not heroic enough for a romance novel, either??? Am I missing something here? Do romance novel heroes have to be Greek Billionaire Shieks with Bodyguards or something? I think not. Real life heroes are out there and in my opinion, they are the most worthy romantic characters (not knocking the Greek Billionaire Shieks with Bodyguards of the world, mind you ;) ).

To shun away from using Firefighters as heroes in romance novels because of 9/11 is totally ridiculous. Firefighters (& many other brave souls) proved their heroism that day & deserve our praise and admiration. Romance novels are about HOPE & happiness & triumping evil---tell me again why a firefighter doesn't make the perfect hero??????? Why we wouldn't want to see a firefighter find happiness and triumph and prove that hope does exist in the world??????

Yes, I am seething. And I feel like my skin is pretty thick on this kind of stuff. After all, I went through the contest and dealt with the judges' comments first hand. Not once did anyone hear me say anything negative about anything the judges said. However, I find Ms. Ross' comments about firefighters just WRONG.

Help me send a strong message about just how heroic firefighters are. Vote for Lindsey Brooke's American Title 3 entry, Operation: Date Escape & let's prove just how heroic we believe firefighters truly are.

Vote for Lindsey's entry by sending a blank email to webmaster@romantictimes.com with OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE in the subject line. Please ask all your friends and family and, hey, your local firemen, too, to go vote for OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

3 Day Breast Cancer Walk~pictures

Okay, I'm finally up for posting about the walk.

Thursday night after working all day. I drove to Atlanta. It was raining and icky and the fog was so heavy that I passed so many wrecks it wasn't even funny. What should have been a 3 hour drive turned into over 4 1/2 hours. After arriving in Atlanta, I got to meet my roomie for the night, fab-o author and romance diva Kristen Painter. Kristen is fun, hip, and an absolute diva in every sense of the word. I had a blast getting to know her over the walk. If you enjoy romance and aren't already a member of the Romance Divas' website, be sure to join for great writing tips and much, much more.

Friday morning. Sometime long before the sun came up, Kristen & I headed out on a big Greyhound like bus. The bus brought us to a mall where the opening ceremony for the walk took place. There were people everywhere. I can honestly say I've never seen so many shirts advertising boobs in my life. "Blisters for Boobs" "Save the boobs" "Tutus for Tatas" were just a few of the t-shirt slogans. At the opening ceremony, Kristen and I met up with Deidre Knight, Lynne Simpson, Elaine Spencer, Julie Ramsey, & Lola. Deidre had gotten us Parallel Heat t-shirts made up for the walk so we got to have cool shirts, too. :)

Food took on a new meaning during the walk (which might explain how I gained 2 pounds rather than losing it). They had great snacks for us at each stop-point. My favorite was this graham cracker and peanutbutter and jelly bar that looked like an ice cream sandwich. I could really go for one of those right now...

Lunch was good, too. Mostly because I could take my socks and shoes off and just air my feet out. I did well, though. No blisters or great pains on day one. All the group (except maybe Lola who didn't stay with the group) made it the full 20 miles. Woo hoo.

Friday night. A hot shower has never ever felt so good. They had these 18 wheeler shower houses where about 20 could shower at a time. They had quite a few of these trucks set up so one didn't have to wait too long. Of course, the showers were about the size of my high school locker. Although I whine about my weight (what woman doesn't?) I'm not over-weight, just not the slim size I once was. I could barely turn in the stall. I really don't know how a heavier woman could manage. Drying off was a challenge too as when you turned your water off the water from neighboring stalls splashed as high as up to my thighs. Still, the shower was gooooood.

Sleep...I didn't sleep much Friday night. I brought ear plugs, so it wasn't even so much the noise. (No comment on what those noises might have been ;) It was more just being on the ground after walking 20 miles. I had a camping eggshell and a yummy warm sleeping bag, but it just didn't cushion me well enough to ever really get into a good sleep. I did stay snug and warm. Which is saying something since we woke to a layer of ICE on our tent. Yes, it was that cold.

Saturday morning. Up before the sun AGAIN. Breakfast was buffet style and good. I took off with Julie and Elaine, but by mid day my HIPS hurt badly enough that I knew better than to try to keep up with them for the rest of the walk. When the lunch lady points out where the medical tent is to you, that's a sign to slow down, right? My feet did fairly well again. At the end of the day I did have two bloody toes, but it's my own fault for not having my nails clipped low enough.

Lunch was good again. Supper hot and delicious. Did I mention how heavenly a shower inside a locker can feel???

Sunday morning. My tentmate was put on medical restriction not to walk. I rode the bus with her and didn't get my full 20 miles in. Ack, but as badly as my hips and KNEES hurt on Monday, it's probably a good thing that I didn't.

Crossing the finish line at the walk was an amazing experience. There were people cheering you on everywhere. Along the walk there were people giving out candy, pins, HOMEMADE COOKIES, gum, water, etc. How cool is that????

The walk is an experience I'll never forget--my knee won't let me. Okay, just kidding, although, yes, 3 weeks later my right knee is still messed up and I haven't been cleared to walk (you know, my regular routine trying to be healthy 2 to 3 miles in the mornings walking) again yet. Would I do it again? Yes, doing this walk once is an amazing feat. But next time I'm going to look for one where you sleep in a nice comfy hotel room bed at night and have real showers.

Opening Day Ceremony:Tents, tents, tents everywhere. This photo does little to show you the amazing reality of just how many tents were there. Imagine looking in every direction and seeing this.
Not that anyone I know would ever do this, but this photo is of "Buzz". ((Yes, that's really his name and yes, he admitted to being frequently teased about "Buzz Lightyear". )) Buzz came to my attention when some unnamed women tried to bribe him into going to buy them booze. Buzz was a good sport and even called his girlfriend to try to get her to bring these persistant ladies booze. I'm not too sure the girlfriend was amused. The cute diva on the right shall remained unnamed to protect the not so innocent. ;)

Crossing the finish line!!!!This is a photo of the luggage pick-up area. Again, as with the tents, the photo does little to convey the reality of just how many suitcases were strung out on large tarps on the ground.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Back from Birmingham

Wow! What a gorgeous drive I had yesterday & today. The leaves are amazing shades of gold, orange, red, green, brown. Breathtaking! Wish I'd stopped and taken photos...

The Southern Magic Readers Luncheon was a wild success. I sold out of books--but there's a story behind that ;)

Here's some pics...This is Teresa Menderos, who gave the keynote speech. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.
This is Dianna Love Snell, Rita Winner & fab author! who gave a welcome speech. She's the one with the awesome smile--be sure to look for Dianne's anthology next fall with Sherrilyn Kenyon. How cool is that?????
And to the far left is the one and only Kathleen Long with two fans. :) Kathleen is an up and coming romantic suspense author. IMHO no one does RS better--yes, I am biased. :)

I plan to drop off my photos from the 3 day breast cancer walk--and as soon as my knee heals I'll be ready to blog about the walk...not there yet....

Friday, November 03, 2006

Birmingham or Bust!

Not mine, not Elvira's, not even Telvira's (check out Terri Garey's blog for more on this. ;) busts, that is. But I am headed to Birmingham for a readers luncheon. :)

Y'all have a good weekend.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Evolution of dance

I was driving home from my son's acting lessons and he was telling me about this really cool video called Evolution of Dance. I got a smile out of it and thought I'd share. :)


Watch more funny videos at FunnyJunk.com