Happy Tuesday All, Yesterday I mentioned I had guest posted on Anna Kathryn Lanier's blog. In the blog post, I talked about ornaments that meant something special to me. I figured it was only fair I show you these ornaments and explain them. Before I do that, here's our Christmas tree all set up and decorated (yes, this year's version): The first ornament is in honor of my maternal grandfather. Grandpa died in 2004, 10 days before my birthday. He was a wonderful grandfather. Always full of stories (both true and made up), quick to give you a $2 bill ("Never spend this and you'll never be broke.") He also was quick with a joke, which was followed by a smile and his deep, comforting chuckle. Growing up, my family had a Thanksgiving tradition called "The Turkey Contest".  After Thanksgiving meal we'd all sit at the table, and there would be jokes told. The person with the best--or sometimes even the worst--joke won and was called ...

Happy Tuesday All, Since the prizes are all ready now and I'm in a place where I can do this, I'm going to go ahead and do my giveaway. I'm new to using Rafflecopter so please be patient with me. A few things to note: 1.  ONLY USA (United States) residents are eligible. (I'm sorry). 2.  Follow the information in the Rafflecopter box below TO THE LETTER. (Prize info also included in the Rafflecopter box, so read everything!) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Friday All, Before you head off on your weekend fun, please stop by and check out the interview I did with Monroe (the hero of All's Fair In Love & Lion ). We're guest posting on my awesome Critique Partner, Tess St. John's blog. Come check it out and please be sure to leave a comment! (This is stop number 5 on my blog tour, by the way). :-) Have A Fabulously Fantastic Friday!

Happy Thursday Everybody, Hope you're having a great week! Mine has been all right. Been working on blog posts for my guest blog appearances.  I've been asked to appear on 4 different blogs! I'm very flattered and excited. I've never been on a blog tour before (then again, I've never been a published novelist, either...well, that part is coming in July, but still).  My current scheduled appearances are as followed (and can be found in the margin of this blog, as well): June 28th --- I'll be the guest of Tonette Inspired on Four Foxes One Hound . This one is a personal interview--a chance to learn more about me, and more about All's Fair In Love & Lion . July 10th-- Melissa Ohnoutka has graciously invited me to appear on Eat Read Rate , talking about my journey of becoming a writer (we're going way back on this one!) July 12th--My illustrious and fabulous Critique Partner, Tess St. John, will have me on her Tess St. John blog--and guess w...

Happy Monday All, Wow...I know, it's so very long since I gave a real update. Things are heating up (in a good way). I'm gearing up for July 10, 2013 when All's Fair In Love & Lion is released (YAY!) Yeah, it's still 2 months away, but there's several details. In other news...the companion sequel to All's Fair In Love & Lion has a new title (originally I was calling it Inflamed , but I felt like that didn't really describe the book, so I came up with a new one, which I will reveal later). It's coming along and I like the direction it's going, so hopefully I can finish it up reasonably quickly. I really want to get through initial edits and get all fixed up as soon as possible. I sent a basic synopsis to my editor and she wants to see it when I'm done. So we'll see what happens with that one. What can I tell you about AFINL&L? Well...let's see it's a Romance novel...there's aspects of fairy-tale in it (no, Mon...

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Sorry it's taken me forever to update (December is half gone already!) I promise you, I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I've actually been really busy. Yesterday I finally finished my Christmas shopping. I even made a To-Do list yesterday and put "Make To-Do List" as one of the items--partially because I've been meaning to make one, and partially to have something to cross off right away. As you can see, we finally got the tree decorated. It's so pretty! Offspring got excited about putting the tinsel on. It's always fun to get out the Christmas stuff and see things we haven't seen in a year. Unfortunately, my computer refuses to upload this picture the right way. I had flipped it so that it was vertical, but then Blogger wouldn't upload it.*Sigh*. Anyway, I promise, in real life it's NOT sideways. There's two particular ornaments on the tree that have a special meaning to me. One i...

Happy Wednesday Everyone,  I had to flip this picture for it to be vertical. Unfortunately it's turned the wrong way. the mantel is actually on the other side of the tree.  Yay! I finally did it--I got the pictures taken of the lion ornament I got for Christmas. It's the one that represents my hero, Monroe. For those of you who missed the post about the ornament, you can read it here . Also, if you'd like a chance to meet Monroe, up close and personal, please check out the guest post I did on author Tess St. John's blog .  Isn't he awesome? Very majestic. I just love it!  Monroe is the hero of my novel. He's a man who can turn into a lion (hence the ornament). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this glimpse at Monroe. I've been delighted to have the ornament. From where I would sit on the couch I can see it hanging on the tree (we have yet to take our tree down, but I'm sure that's going to happen this week or this weekend). So what...

Happy Monday Everyone, I hope you all had a great holiday. I certainly did. Right now I'm sitting in my living room, enjoying the tree and lights and one of my Christmas gifts on DVD. In my family, me and my siblings and spouses get one name (either a sibling or a spouse of a sibling and the spouses get a name too) and we buy for that person.  One of my sisters got my name this year, and as part of the Christmas presents she got me a lion ornament to represent the hero of my novel, whose name is Monroe. I opened it up, laughed and delightedly exclaimed, "It's Monroe!"  The lion ornament is now hanging near the top of my tree by a white ribbon (don't know where my hooks are). He's awesome--sparkly and very regal.  I could just picture Monroe saying, "Your sister has most excellent taste." He also would say, "She has superior taste." Since he can turn into a lion, Monroe is of the opinion no other animal can hold a candle to lions. Anywa...