Yesterday's winners!

The Christmas Elf picked three winners for an advance copy of THEN HE KISSED ME. Congratulations to:

Playground Monitor

Beth T.

Kristine Riggs

Email me your snail mail addy at christie @ christieridgway.com (don't use spaces, of course and note that there's no "e" in Ridgway!) and I'll send a book your way.

Happy Reading!

Presents! A Chance to Win!

(At left is my favorite Christmas elf. He's aged some since that picture was taken--and cut off all those gorgeous curls! Shh! Don't tell him I put this up.)

I'm talking Christmas, people, because it's really upon us. And because my mom sent (via my bro who visited for Thanksgiving) an early Christmas present. A cuckoo clock she bought in Germany. It's like getting used to a new pet or a new baby. It makes noises between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. (at least it sleeps through the night) but we keep jumping when it starts its little song and dance every hour.

But it made me think about gifts and when to open them. Surfer Guy grew up opening gifts on Christmas Eve (gasp!), which was almost a marriage dealbreaker...until he promised to do it my way. Of course, Christmas morning is the time to open gifts, else Christmas Day is so anti-climactic. Right? Right?

As my kids get older a lot of the drama has been taken out of the gift-giving. No more of those have-to-have-it toys. I miss that. And staying up late on Christmas Eve attaching a thousand little decals to the latest race course or whatever that Surfer Guy and I just have to play with for a few hours before bed.

But it's that time of year at the Ridgway house already. Friday after Thanksgiving, the turkeys and pumpkins are put away and the Christmas decorations come out...santas, sleighs, reindeers, penguins. I already have a list and I'm checking it twice.

Are you ready for the season? When do you open gifts?

Whether you're naughty or nice, I may have a present for you. Comment for a chance to win one of three advance copies of my January release, Then He Kissed Me. Romantic Times gave it 4 1/2 stars, saying "Ridgway gives readers great romance." I'd love to send you an early Christmas gift...and it's one that doesn't sing or cuckoo!

WINNER OF LAURA GRIFFIN'S BOOK!!!!

Congratulations to Pamela Keener who won a $25 Amazon gift card and a
signed copy of Laura Griffin's new book, UNFORGIVABLE, on Wednesday.
Please email laura@lauragriffin.com with your mailing address, and she
will send you your prize!

Debra – Autographed Books

First…Happy Turkey Day!

Next…let’s talk about autographed books.

So many readers love an autograph.  Personalized, of course.  Authors love to sign books.  I can’t tell you how warm and fuzzy I got at an Australia romance writers event when, instead of a GMC book, a woman stepped up with an old and tattered copy of BAD TO THE BONE and gushed.

Those are the moments you remember when it’s 3 a.m. and you’re pushing a deadline uphill like a square, two ton rock.

I was reminded last night that autographs are moments in time that we carry with us into the future.  My sister is moving.  We brought dinner to the new house so no one would have to cook.  As we’re leaving she says, “Wait!  I’ve found some books your friends autographed to you.  You must have loaned them to me and I lost them.”  She runs to one of the seven million boxes and returns with two books.

Book One.   THE WEDDING DRESS by Virginia Ellis
Gin died unexpectedly.  She’d been a stockholder in BelleBooks.  A dear friend.  When I pulled the book out, I smiled and my brain actually whispered, “Hey you!” as if to greet an old friend.  I had some lovely moments remembering the book and Gin.

Book Two.  WHEN VENUS FELL by Deborah Smith
Some would say that Deborah Smith and I are joined at the hip.  Now, anyway.  At the dawn of mankind (when I was just beginning to understand writing and publishing) I wanted to be the love child of Tami Hoag, Steven Hunter and Deborah Smith.  I thought Deb wrote the most amazing books.  She was a rising, shining star in the romance world.  Destined to become a NYT Bestselling author.  But I didn’t know her.

Eventually I sold to Bantam/Random House and I was introduced to Deb at publisher functions.  Over the years we became friendly and eventually business partners and these days we now talk and email so often that barely an hour goes by that we don’t communicate in some way.  Except when we sleep.  LOL!

So, back to last night.  WHEN VENUS FELL was published in 1998.  That was a year before anyone had ever dreamed or even whispered about a joint business venture  that would become BelleBooks, Inc. and its imprint Bell Bridge Books.

“Deb- You are destined to run a publishing empire.”  Love Deb  --  Deborah Smith

I have to close now, because I need to go get Deb Smith to pick some lottery numbers for me.

How about you?  Do you love to autograph? Love to get autographed copies?  Have any autographs that are tied to people and memories that rush back when you read the autograph?

Slut Turkey and guest Laura Griffin :o)

Hi everyone. I am thrilled to welcome Laura Griffin ( who is NOT a slut turkey) to the 'vert today. Please make her welcome and wow, she's got a GREAT giveaway for you all!

Slut Turkey

Is it really Thanksgiving? I don’t know how it got here when one minute ago I was rushing around Walmart looking for number two pencils and braded folders.

I sat down to write this blog, fully prepared to do the whole thanks-for-having-me!-please-buy-my-new-book! (but with some sort of clever twist that I was still banging my head against the keyboard trying to come up with). But then I looked at my calendar and realized I was scheduled to visit you all at Riding With The Top Down on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving!

So there went my book pitch (although, please do consider buying it). How about we talk turkey instead?

This is the story of my first Thanksgiving as a blushing bride… well, not really blushing. Actually, I was engaged and living up in Chicago and somehow my fiancé and I got roped into having our two college-student sisters join us for turkey… which I ambitiously offered to cook because my mother was way down in Texas. Of course, being hundreds of miles away didn’t stop my mom from wanting to help.

First, there was the barrage of “foolproof” recipes. I think I got at least twelve detailed letters from my mom and all of her closest friends. Lack of confidence in my culinary abilities? Perhaps. I am what you might call a distracted baker. My half-inch tall “cakes” are legendary. And then there was the three-layer sliding-icing cake that ended up naked in a pool of buttercream… But I digress!

Of the twelve helpful recipes, I chose Turkey in the Sack. I chose this recipe (which my sister dubbed Slut Turkey) not because it was pitched to me as foolproof--although that was supposed to be one of its attributes--but because there are few people I trust more than my mother’s best friend, and she swears by this recipe. Good enough for me.

So I bought my bird. I bought my ingredients. I even bought a card table so that our Thanksgiving guests would have an actual place to sit while they ate dinner in our closet-size apartment, where we usually ate on stools at the counter. I was prepared. And so on that bright Thanksgiving morning I got up and got straight to work.

The panic started early.

Step one: Prepare the bird.

My mom awoke at 7 a.m. to a desperate phone call. “Prepare?! What does that mean??”

She quickly set me straight with instructions on washing, drying, etc., etc., this slimy, almost-frozen thing that had been sitting in my sink overnight.

For the next five hours (Yes, five. I assure you, this was a large bird. I was terrified of running out of food and not having leftovers.) I followed my mom’s best friend’s instructions to a T! I did not miss a step. I did not deviate. I did not get creative. I got that bird washed and seasoned and stuffed in that paper sack and sealed up tight, so it could cook to a succulent perfection. And I did not peek once, as I was strictly instructed by the recipe, and in my mom’s best friend’s handwriting off in the margin.

Finally, it was time. I took the bird out of the oven, and the kitchen smelled heavenly. It smelled like my grandmother’s house! Can you imagine how proud I was? The soon-to-be bride serving her sister and soon-to-be-sister-in-law a delicious, home-cooked Thanksgiving meal in our cozy little apartment with the card table beautifully set and the folding chairs arranged so invitingly around it… I was beaming with pride.

I put the roasting pan on the counter and decided to start the gravy.

Step One: Prepare the giblets.

I frowned. I pondered. I searched the kitchen, the fridge, the trash can for clues. For the sixteenth time that day, I called the Mom Hotline.

“Mom? Yeah, the turkey looks great, but what the heck is a giblet?”

Well, clearly I am not the only person incapable of following a “foolproof” recipe. I know this because I got off the phone with Mom and called Butterball, and turns out you know those nice plastic bags containing necks and turkey innards? The ones they stuff inside the bird for you to pull out before cooking? Turns out those bags are made of non-toxic material. My family is living proof.

What is your worst Turkey Day mishap? Leave a comment about anything at all and be eligible to win a signed copy of my new book, UNFORGIVABLE, and a $25 Amazon gift card to help you get started on that holiday shopping. Good luck!

Oh, and one last plug for the new book. Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about it: “The science is fascinating, the sex is sizzling, and the story is top-notch, making this clever, breakneck tale hard to put down."

Happy Holidays and happy reading!

Laura Griffin is the bestselling author of seven romantic suspense novels, including UNFORGIVABLE, which comes out Nov. 30. Laura’s books have won numerous awards, including a 2010 RITA Award, a 2010 Daphne du Maurier Award, and the 2008 Booksellers Best Award for romantic suspense. Visit her web site at www.lauragriffin.com.

Holiday Prep?

I've been under a pretty tight deadline for my next three books, and as a result I've had to prioritize my non-writing world. I've found as I've gotten older I tend to live with more purpose, in other words, things I do or don't do are things I've decided to do or not do, as opposed to simply reacting, or overreacting to life events.

Some things I refuse to set aside are time with my kids, walking the dogs, some time to myself with friends, and sleep.

Parts of my life that end up suffering are my workouts and hygiene. Showering, for example, has become an every other day occurrence as opposed to every day. Oddly enough, I make that decision not to shower because it seems like a waste of twenty minutes during which I could be doing something essential. And since I don't see the point in changing from pjs into sweats, I'm not sure I've gotten out of my pjs more than twice this last week. Yes, I do take the dogs to the dog park in said pjs.

Things I give up almost entirely are haircuts, an organized life and a clean house. I've found I can get by without all of these things for extended periods of time. I get the bare minimum done, and bare minimum to me means paying the bills, vacuuming, doing dishes and cleaning toilets. The rest is all superfluous.

That is, until the holidays roll around and I'm faced with a whole lotta family coming to MY house to celebrate. That's the point at which superflous turns into vital.

So I spent some time this past weekend cleaning and I couldn't believe the layer upon layer of dust that had accumulated on things. Ick. I had conveniently not noticed how non-shiny everything had gotten inside my house. Since I do like clean surroundings, I couldn't help but wonder if the sludge may very well being weighing me down in some small way. Hanging over my head and stopping the flow of creativity.

I think there might be something to this. How do we know when the scales have tipped in our lives and our non-essentials have become essential?

What are the non-negotiables in your life? What to you give up at the drop of a hat?

Do the holidays rolling around throw you in a cleaning tizzy? Or are you one of those uber-prepared entertainers?

Now I'm going to run off and take a shower ...

Helen

When I Grow Up

Do you remember being a kid and wondering what you wanted to be when you grew up? It’s very clear in my mine, but I think that might only be true because when I was in third grade my teacher asked us to write it down so she could keep the papers and let us review our answers in a few years.



I wanted to be a farmer’s wife. That’s right. Reach high. Not a doctor or a scientist or a great novelist. :) Not even a farmer, but a farmer’s wife. For the last ohhhhh, forty years I’ve considered that kinda pathetic and anti feminist. But I just spent last weekend at my new grandson’s birthday party. (He’s 6 so I’m not really a grandmother in the traditional sense.) But anyway, I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He didn’t miss a beat, didn’t hesitate, didn’t waffle. “Batman!” he said.

Unequivocally the best answer I’ll ever heard. Although later he was a little less certain. Maybe he’d rather be Ironman. When I suggested that he’d probably have to do well in college to be Ironman…I mean…Ironman invented some pretty cool stuff, he thought maybe he’d just be a cowboy then. However, he’s still a little uncertain of horses so I’d have to ride with him. The images here were absolutely priceless for me…we’ll be the first bucking bronco grandmother/grandson duo.



Anyway, how about you? Do you remember what you dreamed of being when you were a kid? Do you remember why? Did it come true or did your dreams change? And is it too late to become a superhero? :)

Kathleen Joins the Social Network

Befriend me.

Or be my friend. I can't bring myself to say "Friend me." You know how bent out of shape I get over torturing nouns into pretending they're something they're not. But lost causes aside, I'm really trying to lighten up and be more sociable. This week I signed up for Facebook.

Actually, my firstborn signed me up. He's been telling me to get with the program for some time, and I finally decided to do it.

So far it's been hell. First I signed up for Harlequin's online tutorial for authors. I downloaded the meeting program, as instructed. I spent the next half hour trying to figure out why I couldn't hear anything as the screen shots of a Power Point presentation flew past. I didn't realize I was supposed to call an 800 number to turn on the sound. Not a good start in my new venture, but I gave #1 Son the go-ahead on setting up the page. Hands-on learning is generally best for me when it comes to anything to do with the computer. All too often it's a steep curve.

Then came the flood of e-mail. My son had generously shared his friends with me. I was delighted to get requests from nieces and nephews, former students, and kids who used to hang out at my house and raid my refrigerator. Pretty soon I was feeling like Mickey Mouse watching the mops multiply, so I called the Sorcerer. He helped me shut the water off, but he said I wasn't going to learn unless I got in there and tried things out. (I wonder where he got that?)

So now I've set the thing up, but I'm not sure what to do with it. I lasted on Twitter for about a day because I was pretty sure no one would want to know how many pages I wrote today or what I was cooking for supper. Facebook seems to offer a few more options, but I could easily lose myself in that news feed.

For a writer, I'm not the best communicator. I can see the possibilities with this--catching up with far-flung friends and family, enjoying the occasional blast from the past--but I'm a little intimidated by it.

What's your Facebook life like? Do you converse like we do here, or is it more like sending tidbits into the ether? Do you tune in every day? How much time do you spend? What do you put in, and what do you get out of it? Have any interesting hookups happened for you?

Education-ese

Parent-teacher conferences begin tonight. Somehow the nearness of the date managed to escape me even as I was frantically doing grades, making copies, killing trees by the thousands by filling out the trimester paperwork required by the government...you get the drift. But the first one is tonight. Time to get my teacher face on!

If your only experience in education is having been a student, there's a secret I can let you in on. Teachers like to eat. A lot. Maybe it's because they frown on alcohol in schools; food becomes the only crutch we're allowed :). Whenever I have leftover tailgate or holiday food I take it to the teacher's lounge where it disappears in a few hours. We hold conferences two evenings after teaching a full day and the parent teacher organization feeds us. They bring in soups, sandwiches, pizzas, chips, bars...we like that. I mentioned our fondness for food, right? By the end of the evening it looks like a herd of locusts worked its way through the meal leaving only crumbs in its wake.

Scheduling conferences includes a great deal of strategy. Everyone's jockeying to place the chatty parents in the center of their schedules. God forbid they be last and talk an hour and a half to keep us there until 8:30. (It's happened.) Can this set of divorced parents conference together? Oh, they're still not speaking? Okay, two conferences it is, on different nights. The interpreter is only there on night, so foreign speaking parents must come then. Otherwise there's a lot of smiling and nodding going on, but no much meaningful conversation.

And then there's the secret language teachers speak. I'm not just talking about the acronyms that fill our lives. DOE, RTI, GEI, ADHD, LD, BD, ODD, OCD, BRAT...okay, I made that last one up. We don't use words like that. We have education-ese for that.

After I retire maybe I can hire out to interpret teacher talk for parents. Because we strive to be diplomatic, yet still get our point across. It's important to focus on the students' strengths, yet also discuss concerns. And to do it all in a way that the parent doesn't get mad, defensive or combative. (Yes, we sometimes have parents we are afraid to meet alone with. A sad fact of life.)

Here's a few education-ese examples for you. I helpfully provided the translations:

Patty is very social. (I can't get her to shut up.)

Johnny is very active. (I'm thinking of tying him to his seat.)

Jake can be overly assertive with his peers. (He's in their faces all the time.)

Rick has difficulty with authority figures. (He argues with me constantly.)

Lilah is quite imaginative. (The girl lies like a rug.)

Lest you think that I haven't been on the other side of the table at conferences, I'll tell you one of my most memorable experiences as a parent :). My second oldest son was in first grade and I went alone to speak to his teacher, whom I also knew socially. She started off the conversation animatedly,"You'll never believe what Jason told me!"

Now Jason was--ahem--quite imaginative (see translation above), so I immediately went into defensive mode. "I'll make you a deal," I told her. "I wont' believe everything he tells me about school if you don't believe everything he tells you about home."

She went on, "He said that every night when he's saying his prayers, his dad makes him say a prayer that you win the lottery!"

"Oh." Pause. "Well, that's true." (And why is it that dh is never with me to deal with the results of his outrageousness????)

Okay, spill! Do you have memorable stories from parent teacher conferences to share?

Welcome Guest Author--Diana Cosby

A Gift of Thanks this Holiday Season

Gifts come in many shapes and sizes, but I believe the most precious ones are those delivered from the heart. It's so easy to get caught up in the mayhem of life, particularly during the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but every day there are people amidst the chaos who help you, who take time out of their busy lives to make a difference in yours. This year, why not return that gift?

This holiday season, as wrapped gifts exchange hands, I ask you to pause, reflect on those

who've truly made a difference in your life, and if possible find a special way to say thank you. This can be a simple gesture--something like a greeting card, a bouquet of flowers, or a heartfelt poem. Maybe you could bake someone their favorite cookies. Or present them a coupon book filled with everyday chores, which they can tear out and give you to do on those trying days when they really need a helping hand. The absolute best gift you can offer another person is one given from the heart. And when special-delivered, without any strings attached, it touches their own.

This Christmas I'm making gift baskets filled with my favorite homemade things, such as macademia-butterscotch chip cookies, shortbread, double chocolate-orange-pecan biscottii, Vermont maple syrup, orange-lemon-maple syrup marmalade and more. With each one, I'm sharing a part of myself with the other person.

My gift to you is one of my favorite recipes, Peppermint Ice-Cream Pie!

Peppermint Pie

Oreo pie shell

1/2 gallon peppermint ice cream

cool whip

chocolate fudge ice cream topping

small candy canes crushed (three crushed per pie)

Place 1 quart of softened peppermint ice cream (1/2 tub) into Oreo pie shell and smooth out flat. Place 1/2 inch or slightly thicker layer of cool whip. Pour on a layer of chocolate fudge ice cream topping. Sprinkle top of fudge with crushed candy canes. Put plastic top on and freeze.

*I usually make this a couple of days in advance and leave it on a flat shelf in the freezer.

**This takes less than 5 minutes to make. Amazingly, each of the ingredients balance the other out. It's wonderful. And I'm not even a peppermint lover :)

I sincerely wish everyone health, friendship and happiness this holiday season, a time with the best gift of all is the gift of yourself--that one-of-a-kind present that can make a difference in the life of another.

What ideas can you think of? Remember--the more original and inventive, the more fun! I can't wait to hear your ideas! I'm giving away one signed copy of His Captive to a commenter today! And the third book in the MacGruder brother series, "His Conquest," is out now!

Dickens again. Bah Humbug?

Yes, it's that time of year again. The time we all eat and drink ourselves into oblivion and get merry and overspend and wear ourselves out with trying to make things "perfect" for the holidays. And it's the time of year for beloved but well-worn stories that warm our hearts and try to teach us a lesson. A-hem. Like Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol."

Do you remember the first time you saw or read this odd Christmas ghost tale?

I do. I was about five or six. . . Hallmark Hall of Fame productions put on a live staging of the play-- in black and white, of course-- on television. Ghost stories loomed big in my youthful mind; my elder sister had slumber parties where they competed to tell the awfulest, bloodiest tales. Yeah, I listened. I mean, who wouldn't? So I was scared witless of ghosts and things that go bump in the night. And suddenly ghosts were given legitimacy and immediacy on this scary TV show. I slept with the light on for two weeks afterward! And the guy who played Scrooge-- don't recall his name but he was a doozy. A Barrymore or Rathbone or somebody. Old and not pleasant-looking-- almost as scary as the ghosts. Needless to say, for years afterward I avoided all presentations of this story like the plague.

Then came George C. Scott and his version made all kinds of sense to a grown-up me. And I began to actually like the unique and thought-provoking story devoid of Christmas sop and treacle. (You see the way I got some British sounding words in there? I should be a writer!)

Anyway, the last version I loved came out last year-- animated, with Jim Carey as Scrooge. Terrific interpretation of this tale that gives a strong indication of the dream/nightmare quality of the visions the character sees. Nice interpretations of the "falling" sensation and other dream-time standards. Suggesting that the encounters are more dream than waking vision. A really nice adaptation. . . not, however, for young children. It's scary. As it should be.

So when I was asked to do a Christmas anthology for Harlequin and I and my co-contributors began talking. . . the topic of ghosts came up. . . I suggested angels instead. Angels trying to do some good in order to get their wings. Okay there's a little "It's a Beautiful Life" in there, too. And after some back and forth-- A Harlequin Christmas Carol was born!

Our three stories showcase the "past, present, future" aspect of Dickens's tale and mine is, of course, PAST.

Claire Halliday is stuck in the past. She is Yesterday's Bride: her betrothed died in a tragic accident one week before their Christmas nuptials. In the four years since, she has been plunged into mourning along with his family each holiday season. But this Christmas, sensible, sober, stuffy Cousin Ralph is arriving from India and the family oldsters drape the house with mistletoe. Claire is desperate to convince them that she wants no part of their matchmaking or of the life they are planning for her. But when Cousin Ralph arrives, he's nothing that Claire expects and she finds herself fighting a potent attraction, the meddling of the family oldsters, and the well-intentioned efforts of an apprentice angel bent on earning her wings. How can she resist a man with adventure in his eyes, the scent of spices in his skin, and a way of laughing that makes her toes curl with longing?

Okay, you see how I worked in that "past" thing? Well the other two writers, Jacquie D'Alessandro and Hope Tarr did similar things with "present" and "future." And voila-- a fabulous Christmas anthology! Lucky me, I've read the whole thing and I can tell you, you're going to love these stories. You'll get a chuckle, a sniffle, and maybe a thrill or a chill along the way.

Three angels help three unlucky young women find true love. . . at Christmas. . . what's not to love? And you'll get a dose of Christmas in merry old Victorian England. . . mummers, wassail, kissing balls, the obligatory "morning-without-servants breakfast," the candle-lit tree, Christmas games, Yule logs, Boxing Day, and family readings. It will put you in the mood for merry-making and romance!

So what's your favorite Christmas tradition? What do you look forward to most about Christmas? What was your most memorable and enjoyable Christmas? Are you a Christmas enthusiast or a modern-day Scrooge?

What does your family do?/Belated Happy Birthday Kylie!

First, we want to wish a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KYLIE!!! Since we missed it, you just need to keep celebrating.:)

And now for the rest of us...Happy Early Thanksgiving! Are you ready? Will you be the cook? Or the taste tester?

Is your family getting together for the day?

My family splits the holidays so that we gather together on Thanksgiving one year and Christmas the next. Whichever holiday we spend together, that’s when we exchange gifts.

This year, we are also doing “The Drumstick Dash”. It’s a 5K charity run or walk… depending on your mood. There will probably be at least 15 of us running or walking (including my niece who is 5 months pregnant and will be pushing her 22 month old son in a stroller!). More of us will be walking than running. Our group name will be Tom Minyard’s Turkeys. My father, Tom Minyard, passed away two years ago and we will wear small posters in his memory. Knowing my father, he would have been one of the runners. He was very physically active. We all miss him terribly, but we also know that we were super lucky to have him in our lives. He was a very positive person who could make you believe that “you can do it”. Here he is dancing with my Mom at my niece’s wedding.

We’ve all signed up to bring assorted fattening foods with little nutritional value to share. I’m hoping that 5K walk will burn off at least a few of those calories. One of my favorite activities is the white elephant gift exchange. Everyone brings a gag gift or a gift that doesn’t cost much and we take turns opening them and trying to trade the ones we don’t like for something we like better… such as peanut m&ms. Seems like somebody always brings a fart machine. Even if I end up with the fart machine (from my husband who won it last year), I’ll have a smile on my face. It’s a precious time to be able to get together…

What will you and your family do during the Thanksgiving holiday? I’m all ears! I’d love to hear!

xo,

Leanne

What was your Favorite Read this year?

I'm actually doing it.  I'm whittling down my TBR pile, spine by spine, at a remarkably rapid pace!  Go me!  I've been trying to do this for years.  I've been very good about buying books this year (But let's be serious; I haven't stopped.  Please.) and have tried to keep the TBR tamed.  So, it's getting there.

But now, I find myself longing for those things I do not have.  Which is always the case, isn't it?  Sure, I've still got TBRs, but I want something shiny and new.  So I need some recommendations from everyone.  I'm going to list a few of my favorite reads this year, and then I want everyone to pick one or two of their favorite reads from this year and tell us about them.

THE MIND'S EYE by Oliver Sacks.  Is it wrong to worship a 70-something, slightly blind, intensely engaging neurologist who writes about other people's misery?  I love Sacks.  He writes about neurological disorders with insight and fascination.  It is like reading fantastical fiction, and yet the case studies he focuses on are very real people with conditions that marvel, disturb and teach.  I have read all his books, and can't wait for the next.  THE MIND'S EYE looks at a woman who has lost her stereoscopic vision, an aphasic woman who cannot speak, and a novelist who suddenly develops the inability to read.  I think if Sacks ever appeared in the area signing books I'd go, then probably act like some foolish teenager in front of a rock star.  He rocks!

THE GREYFRIAR: VAMPIRE EMPIRE Book 1 by Clay & Susan Griffith.  I read this book for review, and frankly decided to do so because I was in the mood for something different, even though straight fantasy is not really my cup of tea.  This story is filled with adventure, action and even romance, set in the near future of an alternate universe that sees the vampires having taken over the world, and mortals their slaves.  And it's steampunk!  It was so good, I'm eagerly awaiting the next book, which I know the writers are still working on.  Hurry up and write!  Oh, and this one also gets my vote for Perfect Cover.  Nicely matches the characters and the mood with the grays and blacks and the goggles on the hero—yay!

HELLO, CUPCAKE! by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson.  Yes, cookbooks counts.  I don't actually use them to cook, you see.  I buy them for the pretty pictures and read them much like a book, searching for possibly one easy recipe I could attempt, but then sighing, and deciding it's much more fun just to look at the pictures.  This cupcake book is mostly about decorating them in the most adorable ways.  I convinced my daughter to make the cupcakes with the peas and carrots on top (you use soft candies like Starburst).  So cute!  Anyone want to bake me a cupcake?

ADDICTED by Charlotte Featherstone.  Sometimes you read a book to the end, close the cover, then sit back and sigh a little.  The characters are compelling, the situations are interesting, and the sex (yes, sometimes you just want some great sex scenes) is smoldering.  I have a fascination for heroes who have an addiction, so I grabbed this book when it was first issued, and I was not disappointed.  Great read.  Dark, but well written and a satisfying tale.  This one gets my Gorgeous Cover vote because it is another thing that attracted me to this book.  That wispy red smoke and the fluffy dress and the corset.  It lured me in like opium to the addict.

Okay, that's just a few of my favs.  Now tell me what your top picks were for this year.  I need some ideas for new reading material!

Michele

Debra – Assume the Position

I traveled this past weekend and I feel a little dirty. Why? Our airport has begun operation of the body scanners. It’s sort of like standing around naked.

Theoretically, no one but the scanner operator is “peering” at your for-all-intents-and-purposes naked body. This is NOT me… <g>

But you can certainly see why it feels like you’re standing around naked.

The following 4 shots of the front/back view of a man and a woman illustrate the “position.” Once you pass through the metal detector, you are waved to the body scanner where you face the machine and spread your legs, raise your hands over your head and angle your arms in. You must angle your arms over your head.

And if you’re a woman who wears a bra, then you get additional scanning of your back by hand because the idjits apparently have never seen metal bra hooks.

One of the machines actually uses radiation. So, I get to stand around, looking naked to someone while being dose with radiation. Hmmm… Do I at least get to skip some of the pain in the butt security like taking off my SHIRT? (Yes, on a recent trip they made me take off my shirt and stand around in my camisole. I was decent, but…seriously? A thin cotton shirt over a camisole is considered a jacket? Yep.

I’m beginning to get a bit cranky.

The procedure is easy enough. I’ve included a plain old photography shot of the machine and a man below.

But have we gone too far?

You tell me. Are you uncomfortable with this kind of screening?

Are you still comfortable if you know the machines are all capable of taking and storing images? What if the TSA told you that they “always” turn off that capability when installing a machine? Do you believe them?

What do you think about the additional time you are separated from your purse, for instance, while you wait for a scan to be complete?

I have to say…I think maybe we’ve gone a bridge too far.

Guest Author Colleen Thompson

Oh, The Villainy!

First off, thanks for inviting me to guest-blog on Riding with the Top Down! I'm happy to be visiting.

With so much attention given to our books' heroes and heroines, I thought I'd take a few minutes today to talk about villains, the characters that oh, so often make the story. After all, what would STAR WARS be without Darth Vader? Or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS without Hannibal Lecter? What would any of my books be without some no-good-nick trying to do in, impede, or otherwise make my protagonists' lives hell?

Flat. Lifeless. Boring. In creating obstacles for the hero and heroine to overcome, the villain serves to jumpstart the plot, enhance the pace, and inspire the protagonists to grow and change to keep up with the escalating challenges.

That's a lot of responsibility for a character who gets so little credit. No wonder villains are so often out of sorts.

So what does it take for an antagonist to be Hall-of-Fame worthy. In my opinion, a truly great villain has the following duties:

1) Compelling motivation: no character should just wake one morning wanting to be evil. (Except maybe Dr. Evil of the Austin Powers movies!) For the most part, even the worst human beings justify their actions somehow. Often, they feel forced into the choices they made, or they're performing unworthy acts to reach a worthy goal.

2) A 'dark arc'. Like the hero, the protagonist should have the capacity to grow and change. Often, the greatest difference between the antagonist and the hero is that the hero makes the tough move toward the light, while the villain doesn't have the spine.

3) A true challenge: the villain absolutely must be a worthy adversary, in some way stronger, scarier, or more formidable than the hero. Unless he/she is, the hero has no need to dig deep--and the audience has no real worries about the story's final outcome.

So who are your all time favorite villains? Post a comment and I'll send a copy of my brand-new book, DEADLIER THAN THE MALE, (a Silhouette Romantic Suspense 2-in-1 pairing my novella "Lethal Lessons" with Sharon Sala's "The Fiercest Heart") to a name I'll draw on Saturday! Or you can choose a book from my backlist instead, if you prefer. (You can check it out at

www.colleen-thompson.com)

And the Winners are ...

Thanks for visiting me with me yesterday to celebrate the release of THE MOON THAT NIGHT. As the day wore on the whole 10th book part of it started hitting home, so thanks for all your well wishes!

The winners of the prequel, FINDING MR RIGHT are ...

Donna Marie Rogers, Patti Shenberger, and Tamara Hughes!

Email me at helenbrenna@comcast.net with your address - Patti, dear, I already have yours! - and I'll send off a book. If you've already read FMR, please pick something else from my backlist.

And thanks everyone for ... being there!

Helen

THE MOON THAT NIGHT Release Day!

First off, in case you missed the title of this post, today is the official release day of THE MOON THAT NIGHT. Wow. I can't believe this is number ten. Ten! And, as Leanne reminded me, this book is a nominee for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Superromance of 2010!

In any case, this is Kate Dillon's story and the sequel to her sister Maggie's story in FINDING MR RIGHT. I knew the moment the bodyguard, who went only by the name of Riley, showed up in FINDING MR RIGHT, that he and Kate were in for a tangle. Kate refers to him as Tarzan. How could they not have been meant to be?

This book goes back to the roots of why I started writing in the first place. I wanted to write stories along the lines of ROMANCING THE STONE and SIX DAY SEVEN NIGHTS minus the humor. I can be funny. I just don't write funny books. (Lois is much better at it than me!) Very much like my first three Harlequin Superromances, THE MOON THAT NIGHT is an adventure romance.

Then again, this story is unlike anything I've written before. This book travels from Washington D.C to Rome to Athens to Moscow and, finally, Istanbul in a race to steal several ancient Greek statues before the villain can kill Riley's sister-in-law.

The statues are fictitious, but I took the concept from mythology. Ever heard of the primordial gods, Aether, Chaos, Chronus, Erebus, Gaia, Hemera, Zephyrus, Nyx, Tartarus, and Ouranos? I thought they'd be more fun to write about the lesser know gods than good old Zeus, Aphrodite, Hera and the like. And it gave me an excuse for more research.

It was wild ride to write, so I hope it'll be a fun read.

Do you like mythology? Ever heard of the primordial gods?

To celebrate this week's official release of THE MOON THAT NIGHT, I'm giving away three copies of the prequel, FINDING MR RIGHT. If you already have that book, you can pick something else from my backlist. If all else fails, I'll send you a pretty tasseled bookmark!

So what are you waiting for? Run out and buy the book!

Helen

Unique Weddings

I’ve got weddings on my mind lately. So I’m always on the lookout for interesting/unique/fun nuptials. For instance, a friend of mine told me about a ceremony she attended recently. The bride was in her forties and had never been married. The groom was in his fifties and was divorced. An older couple. (Although I find 'older' to be an extremely relative term these days.) Because of their age and their respective experience, I guess, they didn’t feel the need to have a traditional white dress ‘I’m going to give a meal to everyone I ever met’ kind of event.

Instead, they asked some of their guests to host tables. Hosting a table meant asking them to supply the meal and place settings for ten people. From all reports this made for a fascinating and fun dinner. Every table had a theme. It was like traveling to different parts of the world every time you strolled about the room. The bride, obviously not suffering from stage fright, sang a cappella as she walked down the aisle, and the groom did a little dance. I’m told it was a true celebration in every sense of the word.

Our girl Michele told me about a wedding where the pets of the bride and groom were honored guests. Wasn’t that it, Michele? They had their own seats?

My niece who lives on the North Dakota/Wyoming border just got married. She’s a professional fencer. In other words, she puts up miles and miles of barb wire on a daily basis. She and her husband are also pretty serious deer hunters. The centerpieces for their reception were a gelatinous candle in a glass jar into which a little curl of rusty barbwire and shotgun shells were incorporated. Very cute and extremely specific to their personalities.

I love the idea of making weddings personal and fun. But it’s a little intimidating.

My daughter, who is planning an October wedding, hopes to get married on horseback.

My son, whose fiancée is from Cameroon, wants an Arabic theme for their celebration.

So I’m looking for fun ideas. Have you been to any weddings recently? What was the most interesting aspect of the event? Was it the location, the dress, the cake, the guests? Enlighten me.

Let's go to the movies!!!

I don't get to a lot of movies in the theater. Mostly, I watch movies on TV when they're past their prime and everyone's seen them BUT me. For some unknown reason, however, I've gone to the theater twice in the last two weeks and wow, I'm so glad I did.

Last week I saw RED. Okay. Up front: I adore Bruce Willis. Just adore him and he didn't disappoint me in RED. Nor did Helen Mirren, John Malcovich, Morgan Freeman or Mary Louise Parker. From the moment I saw the trailer I knew I was going to love this movie. For an action adventure romantic suspense author, what's not to love? A CIA conspiracy, operatives on the run, a sweet love story, lots of shoot 'em up bang bang scenes and above all else a generous dose of humor mixed in with all the drama. Seeing Helen Mirren firing a machine gun and sighting down the barrel of a sniper rifle was worth the price :o) I loved everything about this movie!!

Yesterday, I saw SECRETARIAT. Now, I'll admit, I was on the fence about going to this movie but went anyway 'cause I'm a sucker for an animal story. I was afraid, however, that it would be schmaltzy and cheezy so I went in to the theater a bit skeptical. I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I really, really liked this movie. Turns out, it wasn't just an animal story. It was a story of a very strong woman in a male dominated sport during a time in our history where a woman's place was 'in the home'. It was a heartwarming, touching family saga that tugged at my emotions and tapped into some very core values that made me glad I'd paid the price of the ticket. Diane Lane was convincing and sincere in the role of Penny Chenery and John Malcovich (yes him again) was perfect as the French spewing, reluctant trainer, Lucien Laurin. Yes, there was one moment when I was hard pressed not to roll my eyes, but I resisted and just went with it because of the over all feel of the story. It was refreshing to see a feel good family movie.

So what about you? Has anyone seen either of these movies and if so, what's your take? And if you haven't seen them, do you think you might? Any other movies I should add to my list? And finally, can you tell I'm off deadline for a minute or two? :o)

And the Winner Is...

Johanna R Jochun!

Congratulations, you win an advance copy of THEN HE KISSED ME. Email your snail mail addy to me at christie @ christieridgway.com (no spaces and note no "e" in Ridgway!).

"Dire" News & Free Advance Copy!

Okay, first to the "dire." I have early-a.m. walking buddies. Yesterday morning, after a brief recap of election news, Lisa said, "You know what this means, right? We're onto Thanksgiving."

Dire.

I mean, I don't know that I'm ready. I just threw a Halloween bash on Saturday night. And I'm the Thanksgiving hostess for my family. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but I'm just not ready! (FYI, it was 90 degrees yesterday in SoCal.) But I can't deny that I had to flip the calendar to the month following October. I'm looking at the big Turkey Day three weeks from today.

Maybe I need a new menu item to put me into the holiday mood. I admit, I make the same items every year: turkey, stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes (make it early, my walking friend Lisa's recipe with cream cheese), green bean almondine, cranberry sauce, fresh sliced pineapple, and a platter of carrots, celery, and olives. We finish with my grandmother's chiffon pumpkin pie. I always have dozens of snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies on hand because my brother, nephew, and sons count on me providing them too.

So...does anyone have a favorite selection I should add to my table? A lucky commenter will win an advance copy of the second in my Three Kisses trilogy. Then He Kissed Me stars middle sister Stevie...and the man she meets on New Year's Eve. (And is that an appealing cover or what?)

Welcome Guest Roxanne Rustand

I attended an excellent writer's retreat this year, and one of the topics--time management--really hit home. Time management is not an easy skill with the Internet just a click away, and e-mail, eBay, Craig's List and YouTube beckoning so seductively. If a paragraph isn't going well, it's just too easy to turn to Craigslist and go horse and pony shopping (I've been looking for something small and very gentle for the grandkids for a long time.)

Being a little jaded about the whole topic of time management, I wasn't expecting to gain much useful information at the retreat. But the presenter was wonderful and I am trying to turn over a new lea

f. :) Here are several of the principles she covered:

1. Do important things--not the urgent things--first. Example: how many of us actually do get on our treadmills or go for thirty minutes of brisk walking per day? Americans are a sedentary lot. Exercise is critically important for good health. But its something all too easy to put off...day after day.

2. Use the military's philosophy of "hurry up and wait." If you have an hour and need to take care of a task requiring thirty minutes, how many of us procrastinate until the last minute? Do it first--and you'll feel far less stress, guilt and panic. Apply this to the bigger projects in life, such as book deadlines, and it can free you up for all sorts of other opportunities that might come along.

3. Set a timer for productive work time. Turn off e-mail. The telephone isn't your boss--don't feel obligated to answer it. Anyone with important reasons to call will leave a message or call back. Set quotas for your tasks, and think of meeting it as a way to earn permission to have fun later. This is actually something I've done, in part, for some time--I downloaded Mac Freedom and can now turn off access to the Internet for any length of time I select, up to 480 minutes...and there's no way to circumvent the software. None! It's wonderful!

4. The speaker also talked about the myth of multi-tasking--how trying to focus on too many things at once can make it impossible to do well at any of them. In one of the many letters he wrote to his son in the 1740s, Lord Chesterfield said, "There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time. This steady an

d undissipated attention to one object, is a sure mark of a superior genuis; as hurry, bustle and agitation are the never-failing symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind."

A weak and frivolous mind. That's me!

By the way, I have a new release out right now--WINTER REUNION, for Steeple Hill's Love Inspired line. After selling twenty-nine light romantic suspense novels to SuperRomance and Love Inspired Suspense, it's my first non-suspense ever. It's also the first in my Aspen Creek Crossroads series, which centers around a quaint bookstore in the St. Croix River area near the Minnesota/Wisconsin border.

And if you have a nice quiet pony for sale, do let me know!

I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts about time management and productivity -- and what tips you might have!