Halloween Grinch… What are you doing for Halloween?

Do you love Halloween? Do you decorate? Do you dress up when you hand out treats? Or do you turn out all the lights and hope for bad weather?

Some people get into the spirit and it’s fun to watch. Such as Lois Greiman’s daughter and fiancée. Aren’t they adorable?

And whoever would have thought our own sweet Christie Ridgway could be so creepy? Look what she did to her house and her favorite Halloween cat.

And Kathleen Eagle's graveyard! Where did those dark tendencies originate?

Deb Dixon says she'd love to get into the Halloween spirit, but no one comes to the door trick-or-treating anymore. Once there are grandkids to "scare" she'll start "haunting" the stores for great Halloween decorations. Until then she contents herself with a Mummy plaque for the front door, which she actually painted herself. (Because it’s not enough that she is a great fiction and nonfiction writer, editor, publisher, and speaker… She has to have other talents too.)

Me? I’m a Halloween Grinch. I don’t mind giving out the candy. It’s the whole jack-in-the-box thing from the doorbell ringing and the dog barking… followed by a pause when I sit down…. then more ringing and dog barking and jumping. Plus I don’t like scary or gross stuff. I remember going to a haunted house when I was a little girl where I walked into a dark room and was instructed to put my hands in noodles and told they were brains. Peeled grapes were eyeballs. YUCK I remember wearing the plastic costumes and getting cold, yet somehow sweaty at the same time. I collected the candy and “saved” it. Seriously I can remember finding a hidden bag of Halloween candy in my closet… at Easter. Petrified candy. How much candy can a child eat? Don’t answer that. I also saw instructions on what kind of candy to buy for Halloween and I broke the #1 rule. Don’t buy your favorites. Oops.

Even though I don’t love Halloween, it’s fun to see kids get excited about it. Like Cindy Gerard’s goblin grandchildren.

And Helen Brenna’s son with his friends. (He’s in the sombrero).

And then there’s that time I dressed my dog, Bijou, as a princess.

WHAT ARE YOU doing for Halloween? Share, share! We all want to know!

XO,

Leanne -- BOO!

What scares you?

With Halloween close, the television shows take a decidedly darker tone and then tend to feature 'Scary Movie marathons'.  I don't like horror movies.  I don't like being scared, because I scare easily.  And I have nightmares.  Seriously?  I still fear the hand reaching out from under the bed to touch me.  Just touch me.  I would die.  Of fear.

Movies like Silence of the Lambs scarred me.  I didn't even watch it in the theater; I saw it on TV, which means the really bad stuff was cut out.  But I can't erase the image of that girl in the pit, and that freakin' fingernail!  And don't even mention that sludgy slime in the bathtub.  (I'm going to have a nightmare tonight just for mentioning it.)

The Alien movie was another that scarred me, and I saw it when I was about 12 or 13.  Those slimy pods opening up.  That alien bursting out of the man's chest?  Aggh!

A lego rendering of the awful moment.

But my worst movie fear?  Anything that features an exorcism.  It seriously damages my tender little brain.  And one of my favorite movies is Constantine, which features an exorcism within the first ten minutes!  I watch it a lot, but not unless I forward past the exorcism scene.  I don't even believe in demonic possession, but something about watching the act of casting a demon out of a human freaks me.

Now I want to know: What scares you at the movies?  Do you like horror shows?  What's your all-time scariest movie recommendation?  Do you get nightmares from watching scary stuff?  Will somebody please hold me so the boogie man doesn't get me?

Michele

The Power of Pixie Dust

Riders and Friends of Riders, meet Lizbeth Selvig, winner of RWA's 2010 Golden Heart for single title contemporary romance. For the past two years Liz has been serving as president of Midwest Fiction Writers, the Twin Cities chapter of Romance Writers of America. She's a terrific writer and a good friend. Heeere's Liz!

Thank you, Kathleen, for inviting me, it’s such an honor to be here. RWTTD is hosted by my favorite authors, many of whom also happen to be MFW chapter mates. To be asked to guest blog with people I’ve admired for such a long time is like getting invited to play for a day in the major leagues. It’s more than cool. It’s a little bit of a magical moment.

And magic is my topic today.

When I first got serious about writing, I read that success in this business takes 10 percent talent, 80 percent perseverance, and 10 percent pixie dust. “Isn’t that just the cutest sound bite to trot out when I’m richer than Nora?” I thought.

I didn’t believe the formula. I was a journalist, darn it. I’d been paid to write. Paid to edit. Not that I had delusions writing a novel would be easy—I had that much lack of arrogance. But surely my skill would wow editors and agents without the help of Tinkerbell or her pouch full of pixie dust.

Well, clap your hands for Tink with me, because I’m no longer that stuck-up, I-can-do-this-without-magic-thank-you-very-much writer. After this summer, I believe with all my heart in pixie dust.

The first sprinkling of it fell last November. It was a crazy month, and I didn’t get to half my planned writing projects. But, somehow, I got a Golden Heart entry ready and hauled it to the post office on time. That was miracle enough, but some of the dust must have wafted into my attitude. “This is a good story. This one could final.” That’s honestly all I kept thinking.

Which was seriously not like me. I’m that kind of backward-thinking self preservationist who always prepares for disappointment—as if imagining the worst will make it sting less if it happens. But not this time! This time, I was a model of highly un-Minnesotan-like optimism. The trade off for this positive attitude was that I was a pathetic wreck the two days before GH finalists were announced. I’m embarrassed now I was so loony, but (cue the tinkling chimes) pixie dust sprinkled over my silly self and, I was a Golden Heart finalist.

One new Website and two local paper interviews later, the RWA convention introduced me to my 60+ fellow finalists. It’s not just being nice to say I believed any one of us deserved a GH win. I sat at my banquet table on Awards Night without a speech ready (preparing for disappointment) until, at the last minute, something made me give myself a lecture: “Listen you, you could win and you’d better know what to say.” I’d barely finished writing seven bullet points on a paper scrap when they called my name!

I went home with a Golden Heart necklace for my book “Songbird,” six requests for queries and/or partials, and my sense of optimism intact. Interviews with two A-list agents had gone perfectly. One said she was looking for exactly what I was writing. When I queried her, she replied with, “This reminds me of (insert NYT author here).” I was convinced the magic dust had done its job.

But the pixies weren’t finished throwing stuff quite yet. I received an unusual e-mail I didn’t believe at first was real. Ostensibly from a senior agent at an established NY agency, most of her sig line was missing, and hers was not the sender’s e-mail. Needless to say, I went into research mode. To my astonishment and delight, she was not only legitimate, but had found and contacted me through my Website—after her own search.

All my A-list agents from Orlando, including the one who’d compared me to a NYT bestseller, declined offers of representation. But, my “accidental agent,” the delightful Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein of McIntosh & Otis,—who also happens to be named Liz, also loves dogs, also was slightly disappointed that I’d taken two doggy characters from my GH book, and also loves to talk on the phone—said she would be thrilled work with me.

You tell me. Perseverance? Or Pixie Dust?

The Golden Heart contest has changed my life. My 10 percent talent gave me the courage to write a book. My 80 percent perseverance got me to polish and send it in. But without that pixie dust, would I have gotten a set of judges that liked the story? Would my new agent (!) have found my Website? Would I be in the midst of awesome revisions and feel confident I’m on the right road to publication?

I don’t think so.

You might call it luck. Or guardian angels. Or kismet, karma, or the power of positive thinking. The pixie dust used on me was, I think, a combo of all those ingredients. I also believe I helped create my own magic. I made the Website, I sent the entry in ... I just don’t know who mixed everything together or who started sprinkling it last November.

What I do know is it’s super powerful stuff!

So--when have you felt the power of what could only be pixie dust in your life? What do you do to help make your own magic?

Here’s a question: Were people meant to be monogamous? And if so, why does it seem to be so difficult for so many. I looked up the stats. Apparently 40-60% of married people are, have been, or will be unfaithful. If the subject group was men with money and power I think you’d get closer to 99.9%. In fact, I’m afraid I’d be more amazed to hear that a celeb is toeing the line than to hear that he’s cheating.

Think about the recent scandals. Elin Nordegren


Tiger Woods: He was married to a Swedish beauty named Elin Nordegren for five years. They had two gorgeous children together. But recently he admitted to having 120 affairs. I don’t know about you, but that seems like a lot to me. (It works out to two a month.) Elin vows that she had no idea he was being unfaithful until she learned of his connection with their 21 year old neighbor. Personally, I think naiveté hits new heights there. Still, I cannot possibly tell you how happy I was when I heard she was divorcing him.



Brett Favre: Maybe this isn’t such big news elsewhere, but here in Minnesota, there’s little talk about anything other than how football pro Favre sent naughty sexts and pics of his not so private parts to a former Jets employee, Jenn Sterger (who some think looks very much like his wife).
Deanna Favre



First off, really? He sent nude photos to a reporter and didn’t think the public would find out? Almost makes me think professional athletes aren’t as intelligent as I first suspected. :-/




Jenn Sterger

John Travolta: He is said to have been caught "cheating in a gay sex scandal within a secret sub culture" while his wife Kelly, 47, is due to bear their baby in a couple of weeks.

Mel Gibson: I don’t even know where to begin with this guy. I mean, seriously, he had about 47 kids with his wife of 28 years then left her (to the tune of $320 million) for a Russian musician who demanded $60,000 a month in childcare (for their baby) and alleged that he hit her so hard he broke her teeth. Because of this and various recent rants he's lost his upcoming role on Hangover II. I’m not generally a proponent of the capital punishment but I could make an exception in Gibson’s case.






John Edwards: He was running for president and lying about the existence of a love child while proposing to have a wonderful marriage to Elizabeth who was fighting a battle with cancer. Nuf said.

I’m sure you could name a half a dozen other sordid scandals.

But why? Why, why, why, why, why does it happen? I have to assume none of these men walked down the aisle with the intent of making their wives’s lives miserable. In fact, I have to believe they were attracted to and cared about their spouses at some point. So why would they risk their families, their reputations and their careers by having affairs with somebody else?

Thoughts anyone?

Favorite books?

As I was writing away the other day, I had one of those "How did I get here?" moments. You know, the kind of moment where everything just stops and you're compelled to take a look at your career or your life or your home or whatever and analyze what trigger, what moment, what event landed you where you are today.

For me, THAT particular moment was all about what got me started writing. And I basically realized that what got me started writing had everything to do with reading. There were certain books that had such impact, evoked such emotion or made such a lasting impression that I was compelled to read them and reread them several times. The lingering feelings I had from those books, the connections I felt with the characters, the joy in their happily ever afters were what eventually led me to trying my hand at writing a book myself.

Did I embark on this journey knowing what I was getting into? Heck no. I did it purely for the joy of it. For the discovery of what I could create, the fun of 'having' created and then later the excitement and anticipation of wondering if I could actually sell.

Wonder of wonders, somewhere along the way ... I became a writer. And it was all because of those special books and those special authors who touched me so deeply that I was driven to attempt to create something that might possibly move another reader in the same way.
For me, there are three authors who stand out in a sea of creative geniuses who led me down this path.


LaVryle Spencer. What can I say? I devoured every single title, but the one that remains closest to my heart and was the catalyst for my own career was THE HUMMINGBIRD. I must have reread that book half a dozen times. It's just so full of human drama and emotion and triumph.




Tom and Sharon Curtis. OMG. If you have never read THE WINDFLOWER, find a copy of this book and indulge yourself in pure, unadulterated pleasure. (It might also be listed as written by Laura London)











Sandra Brown. Before Sandra became the mainstream sensation that she is, she wrote not only category romance but historical romance. Go find ANOTHER DAWN, the most amazing western historical of all time. Just .... stunning.










Oddly enough, as you can see, it was historical romance that got me writing and yet, contemporary romantic suspense is where I landed. True, the time and setting are nothing alike, but the emotions these amazing authors evoked in their pages are the same emotions I attempt to evoke on mine. Do I come close? Not even! But I do try and their amazing books are the bedrock on which I built my 'character' first, 'story' second writing philosophy.

So how about you? If you're a writer, who inspired you to write? And for you lovely, lovely readers, what books or authors live on your keeper shelf and compel you to 'reread' them from time to time?

Friday Fun!

Okay, I just searched for the most popular video on YouTube and this is what came up. It's been viewed over something like 150 million times. Some of you may have seen it, but I think it's worth a second look. If you've never see it, keep watching. He gets funnier as the video goes on!

Evolution of Dance by Judson Laipply



Happy friday, people!
Helen

So What's a Superfood?

In general, I live a pretty healthy lifestyle. I tend to pay attention to what I eat, exercise three to five times a week, take good supplements, and get a good night's sleep. A year and a half ago, I herniated a disk in my lower spine. Talk about a wake-up call. Apparently, as much as I was doing to take care of myself, it wasn't enough. So while I've been trying to get back to normal - I'm probably about 90% - I set out to discover what more I could do to stay healthy.

The biggest change I've made is to revise my workout schedule to include more variety. Too much of anything isn't healthy and I was very likely spending too much time on the stairs at the gym.

When I took a look at what I was eating, I realized there were still improvements I could make. Simple improvements. Did you know there's something called Superfoods that can control cholesterol, fight cancer and heart disease and even improve your mood?

So here they are, taken from the WebMD site:

Beans
Blueberries
Broccoli
Oats
Oranges
Pumpkin
Salmon
Soy
Spinach
Tea (green or black)
Tomatoes
Turkey
Walnuts
Yogurt

Add dark chocolate and fiber to this list, and you've got a lot of bases covered.

Changing our eating habits isn't easy, but here are some things I've done to include more of these superfoods in my diet.

I keep jars of raw walnuts and almonds at my desk. I buy cherry tomatoes and pop them like grapes for a snack. Yogurts makes a great desert. I love the two kinds that are supposed to regulate digestion. Kills two birds with one stone. When I'm in a restaurant, I'll look for things that include black beans, or order fish (since I don't cook it much at home). And I've found that ground turkey works just as well as beef in things like chili, tacos or spaghetti.

So have you ever heard of Superfoods? Do you have any suggestions for how to fit more of them in my diet? Is there something you've started doing this past year to improve your health?




THE MOON THAT NIGHT my November Superromance is now available at eHarlequin or for pre-order at any of your fav on-line places. It'll be in stores on November 9th!

Helen

Winning the Gold

Kathleen here. It's been many years since I heard my name announced as the winner of RWA's Golden Heart Award for unpublished writers, but I can still feel the excitement when I recall that moment. I've invited two 2010 GH winners--both members of Midwest Fiction Writers, my local RWA chapter--to share their experiences. Next week you'll meet Lizbeth Selvig, winner in the Best Contemporary Single Title category.

Now meet Cat Schield, recipient of the Golden Heart for Best Contemporary Series Romance, whose HEA story is only the beginning...

I’m very excited to be wi th you today to talk about my journey to publication. In my mind, it’s a lot like sailing. Both can be fun. Both can be scary. You get bruised. You can’t control the wind or the publishing industry. You can only adjust your sails or what you are writing to take advantage of the environment.

Rarely can you get directly from point A to point B. Both journeys might require a series of direction changes in order to draw ever closer to your goal. Most of the time, long periods go by where nothing appears to be happening, but you’re making headway. Interspersed with the waiting are short burst of frantic activity when you change the boat’s direction or do a quick polish on that requested manuscript.

Why am I making this comparison? Because if it wasn’t for sailing, I never would have sold my first book.

In 2006 a sailing buddy of mine, Erik Westgard, pestered me to write an article on our sailing adventure in the British Virgin Islands. He’d been writing for magazines for years, but had his eye on the glossy pages of International Yacht Charters and Vacations. To my shock, they chose my article for their June 2006 issue. I was going to be published.

Despite having tried and failed to sell a book at various times over the previous two decades, this pub credit gave me reason to believe in my chances of become a published author. My voice had matured. My dedication had ballooned. This time around I was going to sell or die trying.

I knew contests were a good way to get feedback and bypass the slush pile. In the fall of 2006 I’d finished two manuscripts and started entering them in contests. A lot of contests. To my delight, I made the finals in the the first two contests I entered. I was on my way. Or not. The next few gave me some eye opening feedback. Undaunted, I fixed my problems and got my first request for a full in the summer of 2007. And my first rejection. Slow pacing and not enough conflict.

I began to study craft and revise. More contests gave me more feedback and more full requests. Late 2008, after receiving great feedback on all my rejections letters, I got a form rejection. At a loss for how to move forward, I decided a change of genre was in order. So, I started writing YA. But I never lost my dream of selling to Silhouette Desire.

When I pitched to Kevan Lyon at the 2009 Nationals, I had a book at Harlequin and a two time requested manuscript I’d never submitted. She looked at both. And signed me. The editor who’d asked to see A Case of Meddling, my Silhouette Desire targeted book, had left by this time, but the new associate editor was happy to take a look. And to provide revision notes three weeks later. Believing this might be the one, I quickly turned around a revised manuscript.

To keep myself distracted while I waited to hear something, I entered the Golden Heart. In the past I hadn’t had much luck, but this year proved different. Of the two manuscripts I entered, I thought A Case of Meddling had the best shot. I was wrong. The book that finaled was Fake Fiancee, Real Love. And to my shock, it went on to win the Golden Heart for series contemporary romance.

A month later, Kevan called to tell me we had an offer. A Case of Meddling will hit the shelves as a Silhouette Desire in July 2011. Dreams do come true. Sometimes you just have to be patient and believe.

Cat Schield lives in Minnesota with her daughter, Emily, and their Burmese cat. Winner of the Romance Writers of America 2010 Golden Heart® for series contemporary romance, when she’s not writing sexy, romantic stories for Silhouette Desire, she can be found sailing with friends on the St. Croix River or more exotic locales like the Caribbean and Europe. Contact her at www.catschield.com.

Most interesting travel meet-up/KARYN GOOD – Tiara blog winner from 9/27

Please forgive my LATE contest winner announcement for my tiara blog from September 27, but I’ve been gallivanting! The winner is KARYN GOOD!

As some of you may know, my husband and I bought All You Can Jet tickets from Jetblue. The deal was you pay a set price and you can fly anywhere within the Jetblue system for 30 days. We couldn’t have done this A.When our children were younger. B. When we had heavy September work requirements. C. When our kids went to college.

This was a rare opportunity, so we decided to grab it.  We would not usually make this kind of impulsive decision.  In fact, we’ve spent a lifetime NOT making these kinds of decisions, so I’m especially glad we took the plunge now.  I highly recommend the experience if you can work it into your schedule.  My husband and I both feel very fortunate to have taken this opportunity.

First trip:  We drove part of the way up the Pacific Coast highway from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara (where I finished and turned in my latest book), then joined author friend, Charlene Sands and her husband for dinner at Duke’s at Malibu,        spent a night in Marina del Ray and ate at In and Out Burger before we flew to Seattle. Took a Duck tour,    visited the Space Needle and rode a ferry to Bainbridge Island. It was more beautiful than I expected. We took a red-eye and came home to recover. Although we originally planned to go to Bermuda, we rescheduled that trip due to an impending hurricane! Ack! We followed Jetblue’s rules to the letter by cancelling or changing flights at least 3 days in advance and we never paid a penalty.

Next trip, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. LOVED Grand Canyon. We took a small plane from Boulder City to Las Vegas then toured the South Rim.    That outbound flight from Boulder City was rough, but the return sunset flight was lovely. I’m not a big gambler, so I didn’t spend much time in the Casino, but I did enjoy a visit to the beautiful Bellagio gardens,    a CHER concert and dinner with friends.  Oh, and just so you know, we got tickets to that Cher show by going to a TIMESHARE presentation!

Final trip, Bermuda. I’ve always wanted to go, but it’s an expensive island, sooo…..how to justify that???   We took the plunge, stayed at a “pink” hotel right on the harbor 

 

and visited other beaches during our trip.     We made a special visit to a beach to collect some of the pink sand to share with our family when we returned.

Along the way, we met a politically active server in Santa Monica and in Santa Barbara, a mechanical engineer with a doctorate who drives tourists in rickshaw bicycles in his spare time (for fun!). We met a lovely self-employed accountant on the ferry to Bainbridge. She was from Scandanavia. At the Grand Canyon, we met a seventy-plus man who was visiting the canyon for the second time.  His first visit was forty years ago! In Bermuda, we met a waiter who wanted to move to Costa Rica. All of the people we met broadened our perspective a little and enriched us because they were both like us and different…

My questions is can you tell me some of the most interesting people you’ve met while travelling? I’m all ears!:)

Technorati Tags: travel,Bermuda,California,Seattle,Grand Canyon,Las Vegas

Kathleen Recommends "Secretariat"

It doesn't matter whether you like horses--okay, it helps--or horse racing, you will enjoy the new movie, "Secretariat." Even though you know the horse wins the Triple Crown, the movie has you gripping the armrests during the races. It's beautifully filmed--incredible race sequences--well-written, and the performances are terrific. And the story is compelling.

Clyde and I went to see this one immediately, and it is definitely worth seeing on the big screen. There's the action--you really feel like you're racing--and a certain grandeur in the setting. But it's the storytelling that wins the roses with this movie. Much of the script was based on a book about Secretariat's groom, Eddie Sweat, who is a wonderful supporting character in the movie. But this is owner Penny Chenery Tweedy's story, and it's one most women I know can relate to in one way or another. Penny is a wife and mother living in Colorado who goes home to Virginia for her mother's funeral. Her father's health is failing, and her brother wants to sell the home place and the horse business.

When Penny realizes that the trainer who's worked for her father for years is trying to finagle a deal on one of the mares for another farm, she decides to step in. She knows very little about horse racing, but the man rubbed her the wrong way. Against the advice of her brother and husband, she finds a new trainer. The mare drops an amazing foal, and we're off and running.

Relationships drive this story, and that's where fine script writing comes in. Penny makes difficult choices, and we watch her juggle her many roles while she plays her cards close to the chest in a world dominated by men. We know the horse will win, but how will Penny fare? (That's jockey Ron Turcott and the real Penny on the left.)

Diane Lane is wonderful in this role, and John Malkovich plays eccentric trainer Lucien Lauren with his usual flair. ( Malkovich is one of my favorite actors. )

Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973, just days before my first baby was born. I came home from the movie, took the baby book from the trunk, and turned to the page headed "In the News." I had listed stuff about Watergate, Vietnam, and "Secretariat Wins the Triple Crown." Oh, yeah. It was big news.

I just got the cover for the 2-in-1 re-release of two of my favorite Silhouettes--BROOMSTICK COWBOY and DEFENDER. My "look" of late has been the lone cowboy, which is fine by me. You don't find many Western romances these days except in series, and it's always been a favorite theme for me. A CERTAIN KIND OF HERO is scheduled for December, so I'll talk it up in a month or so. Just thought I'd see what you think of my new guy, who fits Tate Harrison--hero of BROOMSTICK COWBOY very nicely.

Oh, and I saw previews for a movie we'll be taking the kids to first day out around Thanksgiving. Disney's version of Rapunzel is called "Tangled," and I tell you I laughed aloud through the whole trailer.

DVD recommendation: "The Other Man" with Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, and Antonio Banderas. Terrific!

Have you seen any good movies lately? Any you'd like to warn us against?

World Wide Celebration!

How long has it been since the world united in a global celebration? Well, it's been a long, long time. But yesterday the world watched and cheered as one by one the 33 men trapped for 69 days (70 for the last few) in that gold and copper mine in Chile were finally freed and, as near to literally as possible, brought back to life. Luis Urzua was the 33rd miner to travel from 2,000 feet below the surface in a capsule designed by the Chilean Navy. The entire rescue, once they started pulling the men to safety took right around 22 1/2 hours without a single mishap.
What a joyous outcome!
And what a testament to the human spirit that these men not only survived but appeared to be in pretty sound physical as well as mental health.

I was fascinated to hear about the many medical experts who had been working with the rescue crew to insure the best possible outcome. One detail that I found particularly interesting was that the extraction in the very capsule that was designed to save them, also presented a problem that could kill them: the possibility of the men fainting on the way up due to a drop in their blood pressure. When a person faints, it's because their blood pressure drops. So, you fall when you faint, right? It's nature's way of letting the blood pressure equalize and you wake back up.
Well, if one of those miners fainted on the 15 - 20 minute ride up out of that hole, there was no way for them to fall over in that tiny capsule. So the doctors had fed them a high salt diet for 5 days before the rescue started to increase their blood pressure, then each miner was given a pressurized garment to wear that was specifically designed to keep the blood out of the lower half of their body and in the upper half to avoid the possibility of fainting. Cool, huh? They thought of everything - including asking for and accepting help from any country who was willing to provide it. Of course the good old USA was there, as was South Africa, Canada, and a host of others.
These men will all have psychological issues to work through over time, but who, among all of us watching, had even given them a chance of coming out alive? It truly was a miracle and a reason for celebration.
Did you all watch? And besides the human drama, which is just incredible, did anything else strike you as particularly interesting? And other than the first moon landing, can you think of any other event in recent history that galvanized the world in the way the plight of these lost souls, now saved souls has?

Guest Author: Deanna Raybourn

I'm so pleased to have Deanna Raybourn visiting here today. We were both double RITA finalists with our first books, and I think we always hold a special place in our hearts for authors who jumped at the same time with us on this crazy publishing bandwagon.

She's a wonderful writer, a lovely person, and she has a new book out in her Lady Julia Grey mystery series. So enough from me. Here's Deanna. ...


This is the month that Dark Road to Darjeeling hits bookstores, and I could not be happier to share this book with readers!

For me, writing Dark Road to Darjeeling was a chance to combine three of my favorite things—tea, travel, and mystery. It was also a chance to revisit my series after my stand-alone release, and I was absolutely thrilled to write about these characters again. I am very comfortable in my late Victorian series, and my main characters--the aristocratic Lady Julia Grey and the private enquiry agent, Nicholas Brisbane--have become old friends at this point. In writing this book, I reached 450,000 words in the series! It is an unbelievable luxury to be able to spend almost half a million words writing about the same characters. It has given me a chance to explore them much more fully than if I had written a single book about Lady Julia’s adventures as an amateur sleuth, and I certainly would not have had the space to delve into her fascination for Nicholas. Their relationship has been able to evolve slowly over the course of the books, and it has been an incredible tease for readers to keep turning pages, wondering if they will ever get together.

Dark Road to Darjeeling answers that question definitively. The now-married sleuths are still on their honeymoon when Julia’s eccentric family appeals to the newlyweds solve a murder. They travel to the furthest reaches of the sub-continent of India--into the very foothills of the Himalayas to a tea plantation where the atmosphere is thick with secrets--in order to save an old friend. There is danger and intrigue around every corner, and for the first time, I have introduced an arch-villain whose greatest pleasure would be to thwart Nicholas and Julia at every turn.

This book also marks the first time I have helped make a book trailer video for the Julia Grey series. It was a tremendous amount of fun to choose the images and the music, and my husband assembled the pieces. Just to make it interesting, we set ourselves the challenge of making it with absolutely no budget whatsoever. We used photos we had taken during our various trips, and found royalty-free music to set a perfect mood. I hope you enjoy this exotic and atmospheric peek at Dark Road to Darjeeling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WkMTB_GafI

Deanna

Get packed!

You're going to a desert island, or maybe a tropical island.  You pick.  You have to go for a year, and your job, family and life will be tended while you're gone.  There will be no one else on the island, no phone calls, but I promise you'll have meals and a warm bed.  You won't suffer, and this is something you want to do.  You get to bring along five things:

Your favorite song (you can only listen to the one song for the whole year)
Your favorite book (yep, just one; no other means to read)
Your favorite DVD (there will be a means to watch it, but only that one movie)
Your favorite game/activity
Your favorite treat (in a quantity to last the full year)

Here's what's in my suitcase:

My favorite song is Hallelujah, as sang by K.D. Lang.


My favorite book would be The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

My favorite DVD would be Dangerous Liaisons (yes, I could watch it daily)

My favorite activity is jigsaw puzzles, so I'd bring along the 3000 piece underwater themed puzzle I own.

And my favorite treat is some nice 85% dark chocolate

Now it's your turn!  List the five things you'll have packed in your suitcase!

Romance

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel as though romance died, along with chivalry, a long while ago. Or, if it’s not dead, it must be, at least, seriously diseased. Maybe it’s that thirty years of marriage thing that depletes romance. But maybe it’s not that at all because I remember my husband’s marriage proposal. We were sitting in the car outside the house he shared with his two male roommates. He said, “Hey, you wanna get married,” and I said something like, “Hell yeah.” (Note: It has been said with some validity that I’m the least romantic person in the galaxy…a truth that seems a little at odds with my romance writing career.)

That being said, I was a little surprised when my eldest son mentioned he wanted to think of some really great way to propose to his girlfriend. In the end, he took her to Egypt, where he convinced some unsuspecting stranger to film them in front of a sphinx while he asked for her hand in marriage. EGYPT! Decidedly better than a car parked in front of someone’s run-down bachelor pad.

I was even more surprised when my daughter’s boyfriend, Bob, called me at six in the morning about two weeks ago. “I bought a ring! You have to see it, and then I need help finding the perfect place to propose,” he said. I didn’t bother to mention that pledging one’s troth in a car parked by the curb was a tried and true method. Instead, we spent the following day driving around state parks searching for the ideal spot for my little enviro-friendly daughter to vow the rest of her life.

We ended up in a little area called Interstate Park on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border. It had a miraculously Yosemitesque feel to it. There was a beautiful little boulder-strewn canyon which Bob and I agreed was perfect. After some tramping and debating it was decided that in ten days time, on a Saturday afternoon, I would decorate one of those big, flat boulders in a fairy-like manner, light a couple dozen candles, leave a bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries and wait for Bob to lure his unsuspecting bride-to-be into his lair.

I spent the next ten days, drying wildflowers, gathering spectacularly colorful leaves, and collecting pretty rocks like some demented raven. On the afore-mentioned afternoon, I dutifully arrived at the appointed canyon and decorated the boulder.

To everyone’s surprise, I neither set the woods nor my hair on fire. A few people peeked into the canyon, but no one entered. Perhaps because it looked a bit as though I was setting up a druid altar. Basically people just rushed their children off to safety. Regardless, at 6:30 pm, just before dusk, Bob called me from some outhouse in which he was hiding from my daughter. I told him all was ready and climbed up the boulders to keep an eye on the candles from above. At 6:47, the soon to be happy couple came traipsing into the mouth of the canyon. At first glimpse of them, I left, creeping over mosses and away like an escaping convict.

Daughter called me an hour later, sounding giddy and thanking me a hundred thousand times.

She now wears a row of diamonds on her left hand and laughs a lot. I think it’s a time they’ll remember forever. I know I will (partly because the mosquitoes were particularly ravenous during my wait on the cliff above the canyon). But then, I remember the proposal in my husband’s car.

So how about you? How was your proposal? Exciting? Romantic. Wonderful. Ridiculous? Or are you still dreaming of that time to come? And is the proposal important, or is it just an inconsequential step toward marriage?

Do share.

Sorry, my pc hates me tonight and won't load my pics.