Guest: Katherine Garbera

Please welcome Katherine Garbera to the convertible today!  She's brought spring along with her!

The smell of orange blossoms has always signaled my birthday.  To you maybe they trigger another memory but to me growing up in Central Florida on an orange grove, they signaled my yearly celebration.
I love that scent. Whenever I am home and catch the smell of the orange blossoms in the air (and its harder now that it used to be thanks to development and citrus canker) I can't help but smile and relax. I have to be honest and say a nice warm spring breeze triggers the same feeling in me.
I love spring, who doesn't right?  It's the end of winter and the beginning of the time when you can get outside without layers of clothes and enjoy the feel of nature.  For me that's the warmth of the sun on my skin, the scent of orange blossom in my nose and the feel of the spring breezes in my hair.

What about you? Is spring one of your favorite seasons?  Is there a scent that always brings you back to a specific feeling or time?  Katherine will give away a copy of MASTER OF FORTUNE to one lucky commenter!



Katherine Garbera is the national best-selling author of more than 40 books. Writing is the chief focus of her time after her family and the only thing she likes more than working on her own books is reading other authors.  She is a frequent speaker at conferences and loves the opportunity to talk about writing with anyone who'll listen.  Her current release is Scandalizing the CEO from Silhouette Desire.

Scandalizing the CEO...

The minute she walked into his life, he knew he had to have her. Ainsley Patterson was exactly the type of woman CEO Steven Devonshire desired. Business had brought them together, and they both had the same need to succeed. Why not tempt her with an offer she couldn’t refuse?

But Ainsley wouldn’t be won so easily. Her buxom-bombshell exterior hid a major grudge—against the man who’d ignored the dowdy journalist she’d been. So if he wanted her, he’d have to give her the one thing he’d never given any woman— his heart.

WINNER - Frost Moon

The winner of FROST MOON is...

...Anna Dougherty !


Please email bellebooks @ Bellebooks DOT com with your snail mail address.

Congrats!

Debra – Spine tingling and a prize!

One of our followers (Hi, Jane!) emailed the coolest thing a few days ago.

Apparently there is school activity for middle grade which involves taking the spines of books and making poetry.

http://100scopenotes.com/2010/03/12/poetry-friday-book-spine-poem-gallery/

poem-gallery/

Some are more successful than others. Here are two that remind me I always mean to take up poetry. I have many sets of those word magnets intended for word and poetry play.

To me, poetry is wonderful phrases that make you think and when strung together bring the world and emotion to life.

Seriously.

the witches
paint the wind
step by wicked step

That’s brilliant in my book. Of course I had to try too. So here is mine.

A gentle rain…stinking creek…the river between.
The Lord God made them all.
Go find.

Hey, it’s no “witches paint the wind step by wicked step” but I was pretty pleased and I didn’t have a whole library. I have a lot of business and research books. (rejected poem: Dealing with people you can’t stand. Voodoo hoodoo.)

So, make a poem! You can do it!! You don’t have to take a picture. We’ll take your word for it. Type your poem in your comments. Best poem (selected by random generator ::g::) gets a slightly spine crunched copy of FROST MOON.

The Top Down Crew should feel free to add pictures of their poems. Betina has some good ones so hopefully she'll add more pics. :)

Trying on Hairstyles

Have you ever tried to see what you'd look like with a new hairstyle? If you're like me, these computer generated hairstyles would be a godsend, because I lack the visual perception necessary to imagine myself with a new style. Getting a new hair do usually involves me telling my hairdresser I'm sick of my style for six months before she does something different with it. I end up styling it the same way so it only looks different for the space of the first twenty four hours.

If you surf the net you can find some free sites that allow you to upload your picture and try some styles on for size. Keep in mind that the pic I uploaded had bangs and some of the ones I tried...don't. So there are phantom bangs in some photos that don't belong, LOL.




Since my husband has a long professed preference for blondes (I'm brunette, LOL) when I showed the pics to him I figured he'd choose a blonde pic as his favorite. Instead he ended up choosing the one that looks most like the way I wear my hair now. I'd like to think that means my hairstyle is a winner. But I suspect that it simply means he's a creature of habit!

Apparently this site believes we'll like a hairstyle better when it's accompanied by mammoth boobies :) Looking at these photos I'm sensing a pattern...

I don't know of any spots around here that offer the computer imaging but I know they have them in the larger cities.

Have you ever tried on new hairstyles via computer before choosing a new look? Would you?

Rider RITA Finalists!

Boy do we deserve the top down today! We've got some celebrating to do in honor of our very own Romance Writers of America RITA finalists. Let's hear it for ...












Kathleen Eagle
IN CARE OF SAM BEAUDRY
Nominated for -
Best Contemporary Series: Suspense/Adventure













Betina Krahn
MAKE ME YOURS
Nominated for - Best Historical















Christie Ridgway
DIRTY SEXY KNITTING
Nominated for -
Best Contemporary Single Title









And
I STILL DO
Nominated for -
Best Contemporary series













Kylie Brant
WAKING THE DEAD
Nominated for -
Best Romantic Suspense











And
Helen Brenna
FROM THE OUTSIDE
Nominated for -
Best Contemporary Series



CHEERS, ladies!

For a complete list of finalists check out the RWA website.


Helen

And the winner is...

The winner of HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND is...

...chelleyreads!


Please email Michele with your snail mail address.

Congrats!

Her Vampire Husband now in stores!

Yay!  I just got back from my local Borders, and spied HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND on the book shelves!  To use the words of the infamous Captain UnderPants, "Tra-laaaaa!!!!!"  Its official release date wasn't until March 30th, but I'm not complaining.  It's very exciting to see this book out there.  I think it's one of the sexiest, prettiest covers I've ever had (though if you page down on the right, my June cover is nothing to sneeze at).  I hope it'll sell bajillions!

Now, how to celebrate?  Recently I've tended to have my books come out month after month, giving me little time to breathe, or even appreciate the fact I've got another book out.  So I must stop.  Take a deep breath.  Thank the universe for this gift.  And enjoy this book's debut.  It features one of my favorite hero and heroine pairs.  So how would Blu and Creed celebrate?

Blu would put on a sexy red wig, probably a black corset dress and her lace-up gladiator high heeled-boots.  Creed would order in the spicy, chili-laced chocolate dessert and the twosome would make a night of it, tunes cranked to 11, chocolate sauce dribbling down body parts—er, okay, yeah, I know how those two would celebrate.  ;-)

Me, I'm going to see if I can get the hubby to take me out for a nice supper.  But not at my suggestion.  It's gotta be his idea, like a REAL date.  And he has to drive, too.  None of this me driving stuff for a celebration.  And after we've stuffed ourselves, we'll be sure to swing by this cool little shop in town called Truffles and Tortes.  Oh, baby, do they have awesome chocolate desserts there!  They give decadence a run for its money.  Then we'll drive by a few bookstores where I'll sign my books and feel very author-like.  No champagne; not for me.  But maybe a sip of my favorite chocolate/vodka drink.  Hmm...I'm sensing a chocolate theme here.

To kick off my celebration I'm going to give away a copy of HER VAMPIRE HUSBAND to one commenter.  I want to hear about what you do when you've a reason to celebrate.

Michele

[I'm doing a HUGE blog tour through mid-April.  Check my blog for stops, and chances to win free books!]

Guest - Parker Blue

[Debra wants you to know she did not write this introduction but thinks it’s funny.]

Parker Blue likes to pretend she’s a hip young chick—and even had a friend draw her that way—but in actually, she’s just a wee bit older than that. And as for being hip, well, maybe not, but she definitely has hips. She’s the author of the young adult urban fantasy Demon Underground series, and here’s what she has to say about herself:

Menopause sucks. They tell you about the hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings, but they never tell you about the truly horrible part of menopause: noun loss. Ever since I started through "the change," I've been losing my nouns. I'll be talking away, using verbs, articles, adjectives and adverbs with ease, then I'll come upon a noun and be totally stumped. Especially proper nouns. Names?

Ha! Forget it. And what's that small black thing in my front yard the postman stuffs with bills and magazines? Not a clue. I know exactly what it is, but can't for the life of me figure out what it's called.

When I told my doctor about the problem, she laughed. She said a lot of women go through menopause and realize they're having a problem with their memory, but only a writer would identify the part of speech we lose. She promises me it's not dementia, not a sign of incipient Alzheimer's. No, it's simply menopause. My friends laughed, too, until it began happening to them, too. Who knew hormones could mess up your brain so much?

Wait. Hormones screwing with my brain? Oh, yeah. I've been there before...I forgot about puberty. Well, I didn't actually forget. I remember it very clearly (no nouns involved, you see). So that’s why I, a menopausal writer, can still write for young adults.

Besides, Deb Dixon made me do it. I originally wrote the first book of my Demon Underground series, Bite Me, as a paranormal romance, but she convinced me it would work better as an urban fantasy that would span the gap between teen novels and those written for adults. So, I rewrote it and she was right—it did work better.

Now, in the second book, Try Me, part-demon teen vampire fighter Valentine Shapiro and her faithful terrier hellhound, Fang, are once again patrolling the dark streets of San Antonio, Texas. Val's hunky human partner, Detective Dan Sullivan, is giving her the cold shoulder since she beheaded his vampire fiancée. Vamp leader Alejandro is struggling to keep the peace between vamps, demons and humans. The mucho powerful Encyclopedia Magicka has been stolen, someone in the Demon Underground is poisoning vamps, and Val's inner lust demon, Lola, is getting very restless since Val's now partnered with sexy Shade, the shadow demon with the blond good looks of an angel.

Well, whaddaya know, I managed to get through that without the loss of a single noun. Well, so far as you know. Luckily, my noun loss problem isn't visible to readers. If I have a problem remembering one, I can always come back later to fill it in and no one is the wiser. But make me feel better, will ya? Tell me it happens to you, too. If it doesn't, I'm not sure I want to know.

While I'm waiting for your comments, I'll take a break and see if I have anything to drink in the...uh, oh crap, you know—that big silver thing in the kitchen that keeps food cold....

http://www.parkerblue.net/

Style. Where can I get some?

It's an accepted fact in the real estate world that most people who tour model homes are just "lookie-loos" who come mostly to see the decorating. . . to get ideas on how to arrange and fix up their own homes and comment on the taste-- or lack thereof-- of the decorators who slave to make the model look tasteful, effortlessly elegant, and liveable at the same time. Most of those people (me included) never even consider hiring those same decorators to come and do something with their own homes. Because that would cost money. And while our homes may be the biggest expense and the biggest influence on our happiness and our growth as human beings-- most of us are too cheap to invest in something like "advice." (Unless it's going to keep us out of jail.)

My one brush with an interior decorator/designer was some years ago. She was an employee of a huge and respected furnishings store (okay, it was Daytons) and she had blue-white hair and wore scarves that made me drool. She really believed we needed flowers and chintz in our lives, but we decided we were more the leather and stripes kind of people. (Don't ask.) We parted ways after purchasing one rug-- that I still use to this day.

I bring all of this up because somebody asked what my "style" was the other day. I said without thinking "traditional." Which sounds stuffy and. . . well. . . traditional. But it's my conviction that a majority of people consider their tastes to be "traditional"-- whatever that is. The room above is what I call traditional. It's what I aspire to, on most days. But hey, I can think outside the box. I have my natural, recyclable, modern, and avante garde moments. So when I went onto the net to look for ideas, recently, I came up with some eye-popping alternatives to staid old "traditional." For your viewing pleasure, I present my out-of-box furnishings ideas. . .

First up is the "natural" look, which has great appeal for me. It's like living in the great outdoors, only a little more civilized. And check out the boulders!!



Wouldn't these be great in a kids' playroom? Or just in the family room?


Then, there are the more modern pieces and motifs. . .

and. . .


The recycled or recyclable stuff. . .





Then there are the truly unusual. . . stuff that would make your guests go "Huh?" or "Ouch" or "Cool." See if you can figure out what these are. . .











Okay, when I reached the COW sofa, I realized I'd strayed too far from the path. But it was fun being out there in the stratosphere for a while, and it made me realize that I'm pretty hidebound in my environment. I could open up a bit. . . maybe with color first. Some paint on the walls. . . a few zingy throw pillows. . . start small. . . a boulder or two in the corner. . .

So what are you? Traditional? Contemporary? Cottage cute? Shabby chic? Clean and contemporary? Avante Guarde? Goth and Proud? Single and Swingin'? Modern or Post-modern? Eclectic? Grandma's Attic?

For the record, the wavy bookshelves are from a Dr. Seuss collection and the metallic monster coffee table is from the "Aliens" collection. The rest of the pieces are genuine, real furniture. Scary, huh? What would you think if you visited somewhere and they asked you to have a seat on their cactus sofa?

Birthdays

Birthdays. No, I’m not having one…possibly ever again. I mean, enough is enough, right? Comedian Patton Oswalt says we shouldn’t celebrate every year anyway. That the first ten are good, after which we should go to a ‘just big events’ type of system… the 13th cuz you’re a teenager, the 18th cuz you’re allowed to vote etc. Then after you’re 90, you can celebrate a birthday every day of the week if you’re so inclined. Plus, for each year you live after that you’re allowed to break one law. Shoplifting is acceptable at some point, and I’m pretty sure murder’s okay once you hit 100. I’m not positive of the exact rules. Perhaps they haven’t been finalized with the government yet.

But I digress. I was going to talk about birthday ideas cuz my daughter is turning 21 in May. Twenty-one is a big one, even by Mr. Oswalt’s standards. And I don’t know how to commemorate it. We talked about going to a bed and breakfast, working on our book, and hanging out together. We considered getting drunk. (She doesn’t drink…ever, and I’ve never been intoxicated so it would probably be fairly entertaining…and perhaps a bit disturbing.) We debated taking my mom with us, because she’s not a drinker either and maybe we should get matching tattoos while we’re sloshed. He boyfriend suggested getting her a small caliber pistol, because she’s old enough to carry concealed!

Or… we could go bungee jumping, try steer wrestling, experiment with belly dancing? Sky dive? Ski jour? Shoot skeet?

Man, my mind is fried. Which is why I’m writing this post.

What’s your favorite birthday memory? Was it something big, traditional, romantic, silly, unexpected, simple? At this point of imagination meltdown I’ll welcome any ideas. Help meeeeee!

www.loisgreiman.com

Risk No Secrets video trailer

Since nothing's going on here today I thought I'd post my new book trailer for RISK NO SECRETS.

Check it out here and let me know what you think :o)

http://cindygerard.com/

And here's a sneak peek at Wyatt Savage, the hero of RISK NO SECRETS. One dangerous man ...

PS - if you've got a minute, check out Barbar Vey Publisher's Weekly Blog where both Michele and I and several other authors are giving away lots of prizes to some lucky poster. it's worth a look see!!

http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/Beyond_Her_Book/31505-3rd_Anniversary_Party_Romance_Blowout.php

Guest – Anthony Francis

(By day Anthony Francis studies human and other minds to design intelligent machines and emotional robots; by night he writes fiction and draws comic books at the collision point of hard science and pure fantasy. He was inspired to study artificial intelligence by Douglas Hofstadter, to become a writer by Isaac Asimov, and to write urban fantasy by Laurell K. Hamilton and Richard P. Feynman. He got his Ph.D in AI and his brown belt in Taido from Georgia Tech; he currently supports his out-of-control reading and writing habits by working at the Search Engine That Starts With a G. Anthony lives in San Jose with his wife and cats but his heart will always belong in Atlanta.)

Hello, world!

I'm Anthony Francis, the author of Frost Moon, an urban fantasy published by Bell Bridge Books. When I started writing Frost Moon, I decided to create something I would want to read - an adventure that was magical and sexy and fun, but with a little edge of realism that made the magic more believable. A novel with a heroine who herself was magical and sexy and fun, but who didn't begin her adventures already endowed with the power to dispel the forces of the darkness with her quick wit and kung-fu grip. Someone who had every reason to go diving into the world of magic - but who dives in out of her depth and has to learn to swim. So was born Dakota Frost, and the alternate Atlanta of the Skindancer series.

So what is Frost Moon about? Someone is skinning the tattooed every full moon - and Dakota Frost, Atlanta's best magical tattooist, has just met a werewolf who is either the killer ... or possibly the killer's next victim. Tall, edgy, and beautifully tattooed herself, Dakota Frost can bring her marks to life through the magical art called skindancing, a skill which makes her the object of many people's desires. The killer wants her ink; the werewolf wants to be inked. A man-in-black wants to protect her; a young orphan wants to be protected by her. A skeptic wants to challenge her skill; she wants to meet that challenge. And it's all going down in Atlanta just before the full moon.

I had fun writing it, and I hope you have fun reading it. But I hope you get more out of it than that. The surface of Frost Moon is a just-ever-so-slightly over-the-top action adventure universe, but beneath that surface are two firm principles. The first principle is that if magic was real, then magic would be real, woven in deep with Nature's laws. In the Skindancer universe, magic was hidden in secret for centuries by wizards pretending to be scientists; but the counterculture movement of the 1960's it began to break free, creating Dakota's world where vampires work with the police to maintain law and order and magical tattooists get licensed at City Hall.

The second principle is that if I didn't make it up, it should be as accurate as possible. Almost all the places in Frost Moon are real parts of Atlanta - not just the bookstores and restaurants and nightclubs but also the more obscure touches, from the statue of Lord Buckhead in Storyteller Square down to the keypad leading to the APD offices on the upper floors of City Hall East (I had a friend go check). And if some nefarious person were to, say, inject a shifter with silver nitrate to thwart their change, I can guarantee you that the hypodermic filled of silver nitrate will look like it's actually filled with silver nitrate and not with mercury ... and that the injection will have more of an effect on the shifter's life than just delaying the shifter's change until the next chapter.

And I can also guarantee that Dakota herself will change. She's tall, cocky, on the edge of arrogant; but the first time someone faces a real fight it can change you. Frost Moon leaves both scars and gifts on Dakota's body, psyche and life, and I'm going to enjoy exploring how those change her in future books.

I hope you enjoy them too.

-the Centaur, Wednesday March 17, 2010

FROM DEBRA-- Anthony must slave in the real world of computers but he will be checking in during the day to hear what you guys think of world building and how important you think accuracy is to readers! And of course to see if you have any comments about his “girl” Dakota Frost.

Guest Author: Kay Stockham

Freedom

With the scent of spring in the air my thoughts have turned toward freedom and escaping the doom and gloom of winter.

I'm a homebody in winter. Hate the cold, hate the snow. Hate getting out in it. Period. But the last couple days have been warm and sunny and I soooo want to escape and bask in the sun! Too bad a deadline looms and I must temper my need for freedom with work.

But, freedom is also very important to Alexandra Tulane, the heroine of my latest release with Harlequin Superromance. In She's the One, Alexandra seeks freedom from what she sees as an interfering, sometimes overwhelming but loving family--by traveling. In fact, she has what she considers a dream job in the form of being an undercover travel writer. So much so she's even given up her apartment because she so rarely used it to travel the world and get paid to do it. Hey, if I were single, I might be tempted to take this dream job, too! (But it's fiction, remember? ;) I imagine these jobs are few and far between!)

Alexandra's latest assignment to a male-oriented hunting and fishing lodge in Alaska leaves her floundering, especially when she meets hunky bush pilot Dylan Bower. They don't hit it off. In fact, Dylan does everything to convince her to not fly to the remote lodge with them because he doesn't think she can handle it.

In the way romances typically work, Dylan finds himself drawn to Alexandra's outgoing and energetic personality. He's a homebody, too. One who has hidden himself away in Alaska at his father's lodge. In the beginning he came to Alaska to protect himself and his traumatized son but now?

Alexandra challenges him to see outside the bubble he's created. To see what he's doing to himself and to his son by keeping them so isolated. But the question remains of whether or not Dylan is brave enough to come out of his shell, face his demons--and convince Alexandra she is the one for him. What if the very thing you want walks away?

Thanks to Helen and all the gals for the jaunt in the convertible! It's always fun to take a roadtrip with friends, even if it's in cyberspace. And since spring is gradually hitting here in southern Ohio I thought I'd offer up a prize to chase away the gloomy gray skies for good. Tell me about your dream job, whatever it may be. I'll chose a winner from those who post and they'll receive an autographed copy of She's the One.

Kay
www.kaystockham.com

Hey, Top Downers, please welcome Robin Cain to the convertible...and win!

As an author with a new book on the market, I find myself getting quite caught up in the whole “numbers” game. How many copies have I sold? What is my place on Amazon? How many good reviews do I have?

I’m guessing it’s a quite normal response, but the entire process is proving to be quite counterproductive to what I enjoy doing, which is writing. By nature, authors are writers, not marketing gurus. But with some 4,000,000 other books being published in any given year, we are forced to shout, push and grapple for space on a reader’s list. These days, unless one is a ‘Grisham’ or a ‘Steel’, book sales often come (in the most simplistic of terms) as a result of how often and how loudly we “Tweet”. Eventually (and hopefully), word-of-mouth works its magic, but usually not until an author has exhausted themselves trying to parlay this form of marketing madness into tangible sales.

It’s an awkward role for any new author to grasp, let alone master, and at times, one can’t help but feel as if they’ve become one big fat infomercial in the process. The quality of one’s work (not to mention all that has been accomplished) seems to matter not in the scheme of things. An artist must dig deep to find harmony.

While in search of inspiration to address this dilemma, I happened upon the following quote. I’d like to share it with fellow artists who, at times, may also find their ‘harmony’ is a little off.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

As artists, we have a talent to share and, for us, it becomes our calling to bring this talent to life. Where our art winds up or who it eventually entertains is something over which we have no control. Our job is simply to let our creations go, to let them flourish and live the lives they were meant to live. We must have faith that those who need to meet them will do so and those who are meant to love them will one day, surely, fall head-over-heels.

One’s ‘numbers’ – these objective, and often disobedient, measurements which all artists allow themselves to get wrapped up in – should NOT be viewed as a reflection of self, but rather a reflection of a market’s willingness to listen.

Our focus as writers is to entertain and enlighten, amuse and engross. How each of us gets to this place – or where we journey from this place – are tiny matters. To attain happiness and achieve the elusive balance, we must focus only that which lies within us. Our talents, our passions, our stories – these are the only things that truly matter.

Artists: What is YOUR greatest challenge with respect to finding and maintaining this ‘harmony’?

Blog Readers: What do you feel is the most effective way authors/artists can entice you to take a look at their work?

If you’d like to be included in the drawing to win a free copy of my book, WHEN DREAMS BLEED, please leave your thoughts and include your email info. A three-chapter excerpt from the book can be found on my website http://www.robincain.com

Romance Novel...and Video Game?

I love my romance columnist gig for BookPage because once a month I get a box of treats like this one...an advance copy of Nora Roberts latest book in her Bride Quartet (comes out in May). But more than the luscious cake caught my eye when I looked it over...the back cover talked about a VISION IN WHITE (Book 1) video game.

For you--not because the Daylight Savings change turned me sooo lazy--I had to check it out. For free, you can download an hour-long demo. How would a romance novel translate into a video game?

Let me tell you how it works. There are 20 "chapters." As each opens, a few sentences of the story are set up in Mac's (the heroine) voice. Then a scene is displayed chock-full of items and you're given a list of them to find before moving onto the next scene. You can play in either timed or carefree mode. There are bonus games to play also. I decorated a cake and also took some photos to earn extra points.

This is nothing like reading a book, though I enjoyed the pretty scenes set about the Brown estate that were much like I imagined. However, Mac and her hero, Carter, are cartoon-type drawings, which didn't exactly fit my mental image. As to the finding-the-item games themselves...I'm not that good at them. I had to call Son2 in to help me a couple of times (needless to say, he was excellent at this). I did, however, really like decorating the cake.

You do get a sense of the story, too. I didn't make it far before my hour ran out (yeah, that's how good I am at the finding-items games), but I could see playing it again instead of yet another round of solitaire. It looked as if you could replay it too--I imagine it gives you new lists of items to find in each scene if you do a chapter over.

Are you interested in a romance novel as a video game? Do you play something like Solitaire on your computer like me?