Happy Monday Everybody, Last week on Facebook I revealed one of the songs from Hailey Banks' play list . Hailey's story is the one that's releasing in early summer/late spring this year. To get to know Hailey, read the Immortal Dreams Trilogy-- Divine Love , Astral Love , and Immortal Love , she's Laney's best friend. Play lists can reveal some of the moods of either the author, the scene, and/or the characters involved. To see the play lists from my Immortal Dreams Trilogy, click here . Music has a way of inspiring a lot of writers. When I wrote my stand-alone Fantasy Romance, All's Fair In Love & Lion , I listened to a lot of Chris de Burgh 's music. There was something so beautiful and stirring in his ballads. Interestingly enough, I didn't listen to very much of his music for the Trilogy (except for one song for Immortal Love ) but that's because Immortal Dreams  novels are a different story. All's Fair In Love & Lion is s...

Happy Wednesday All, While writing this, the Barenaked Ladies song, One Week is playing in my head. Why? Because today marks ONE WEEK before the July 10th release of my debut Romance novel, All's Fair In Love & Lion ! (If I hear otherwise, I'll let you know, but I haven't heard that the date is any different). The Soul Mate Publishing Blog pos t , and the Four Foxes One Hound are just the first two appearance in the blog tour. For more information on upcoming blog appearances, click here . I've been asked to be on another blog. So far the date is for July 16th, but I'll let you know once all the details get ironed out. I've already put it in the margins--it's Laugh. Love. Read. Blog , and I'll be the guest of NY Times Best Seller, Christie Craig (she's one of my chapter mates, and I think the world of her. Very talented writer, and really sweet).  This Thursday is also the 4th of July Independence Day for the USA. We don't hav...

Happy Friday All, Okay, before I get to today's subject, let me just say up front, it's bittersweet. But, it's something that's on my mind, so I figured I'd go ahead and chat about it with y'all today. Lately I’ve been on a 1950’s music kick; specifically listening to the music of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper. I was watching documentaries about these 3 stars when I realized something… The anniversary of the plane crash is this Sunday. 54 years ago on  February 3, 1959, t hree of the biggest stars in Rock n’ Roll history died. Buddy Holly was a 22 year old from Lubbock, Texas. He’d been a star for a little over a year. He decided (for whatever reason...documentaries say one thing, and this website says something else, however this article as well as this other article both back up the claim that they didn't have much money; so I don't know what's fact or fiction) to go on The Winter Dance Party tour. Ritchie Valens was ...

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Recently a friend of mine asked some help with a project. This friend is trying to come up with songs that talk about growing up and different stages of life. The project got me thinking about songs that define my childhood. Music that either makes me think of particular instances, or memories I cherish. There's the mental snapshots of my Dad strumming away at his guitar while singing songs from Peter, Paul & Mary , Paul Anka , and the Kingston Trio . Or times when one of my uncles would join in with his guitar and we'd sit around singing The Beach Boys' Sloop John B . Or the many family reunions at one of my other aunt and uncle's lake house, where another uncle brought out his collection of microphones, guitars, kazoos and whatever other musical instruments he happened to have with him and we'd have these amazing family singalongs. I recall singing Walking On A Wire by Lowen & Navarro  one year, while my younger brothe...

Happy Thursday All, I missed posting Wednesday, but don't worry, I'm okay--just busy! There's a new release! Author of Nocturne , Syrie James , has teamed up with her son, Ryan M. James, to put together a Paranormal YA novel entitled,  Forbidden . And, it looks intriguing! It's available on Amazon and Amazon Kindle , as well as Barnes & Noble and Barnes & Noble Nook . I'm currently reading a novel by an author I hadn't ever read before. The premises really interested me because it's pulled from Shakespeare. I'm not very far into it, but I'm already curious as to what this novel will bring. So we'll see what happens. On and off I've mentioned music on here. Especially music that sets a tone/mood for one's writing--or inspires. For me, it can be anything from AH-HA's Take On Me to Spin Doctors' Two Princes .  I like a lot of different songs, but those two came to mind because Two Princes always makes me want to da...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, As I type this I'm listening to The Cure's Friday I'm In Love . Before that (to wake up), I listened to Ramones' Rock N' Roll Radio (which is really good when you want to rock out, toss your hair around, and get dizzy from doing that LOL). I think I've talked about this before...but there's something interesting about music. It can affect your mood. Sometimes a song can make you really happy ( AH-HA's Take On Me ) or it can make you sad (the hymn, How Great Thou Art or The Old Rugged Cross both played at my Grandfather's Memorial Service), or it can remind  you of falling in love ( Toby Keith's Rock You Baby --first dance at my wedding reception). One of the novels I've written I listened to a lot of Chris De Burgh's music because it was very romantic (you can see it in the margin of this blog). It put me in the right mindset to create the "prince charming" for my heroine (he's not actually Pr...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Wow. Monday felt like it was later in the week for some reason. Not sure why, just did. I finished up Addicted To Love by Lori Wilde (adult Contemporary Romance). It was cute and fun. Interesting take on Romance and true love. I'm reading Tera Lynn Childs' Goddess Boot Camp (YA) and so far so good (I just barely started but it probably won't take me too long). Call me nostalgic but Monday afternoon I was listening to Patrick Swayze's She's Like The Wind . It's a good song that was featured in the movie, Dirty Dancing . He actually had a pretty good singing voice and I remember him singing Herman's Hermits'   I'm Henry The VIIIth I Am  in Ghost . Generally I don't listen to She's Like The Wind when I'm feeling nostalgic, but this time it made me feel that way a little. Generally I listen to songs that are associated with family members or past relationships or some other memory when I feel nostalgic. So...

Happy Monday All, Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was pretty good. The Tonys were last night, so in honor of that and some things I've thought about... I've got a question... Lately it seems like everything is becoming a musical? Now, don't get me wrong...I love musicals. In fact, some of my favorite movies are musicals. However, I never thought so many movies, and books would become a musical. I mean, I don't have a problem with it, I love musicals, but it makes me wonder what story is next?  Cases in point regarding books and musicals: The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy became a musical in the late 1990's . I recently learned that back in 2000, the book by Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre became a musical . Jekyll & Hyde is based off of the book by Robert Louis Stevenson. Some people aren't aware that Phantom Of The Opera is based off the book by Gaston Leroux (I read the book before I saw the musical, and I ended up reading the...

Happy Memorial Day, **Edits 11:29 a.m. (I remembered it was Memorial Day, but I should've posted this earlier):  Here's to all the USA's service men and women, both past and present , fallen or alive . Thank you for your service to the U S A and God bless you and your families. (Note:  If I tried to do actual white, it wouldn't show up). Everybody have a good weekend? My weekend was fairly nice. Mostly quiet, which was just fine with me. For all you C.C. Hunter fans, tomorrow she's starting a very special contest. I'll reveal more details tomorrow, so be sure to come back tomorrow to see what those details are. Hope everyone enjoyed Tess St. John's author interview on Friday . I had fun having her on my blog. She's an incredibly talented author. Be sure to watch for her Romantic Suspense novels. I'll also probably let you know about those releases here.  Did you all follow the link to Tess St. John's blog on Friday and meet th...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, How do you feel about ballet? Growing up, I took ballet lessons (on my demi pointes ) for a few years. I wasn't great at it, but at the time I could pirouette pretty well. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted--first time in my life I felt truly graceful. I've also seen a number of professional ballets over the years:  Swan Lake, Coppelia, Giselle, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Romeo & Juliet and one where there was different kinds of ballets. So, do you like ballet? If you've watched/enjoyed ballet, which ones have you seen? Have A Thrilling Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday All, So, I'm moving on from talking about quotable movies to show tunes. Why? Because I've got a song from the musical, Anything Goes playing in my head. ("And if this ditty, is not so pretty, at least it'll tell you how great you are."-- You're The Top from Anything Goes). Show tunes often play in my head. Either that or I'm singing them. I've been known to sit in the car, turn off the radio and start singing The Impossible Dream from Man Of La Mancha . ("This is my quest, to follow that star...") One of the things that inspires me is the song This Is The Moment from Jekyll & Hyde . ("...destiny beckons and I never reckoned second best..."--see why I find it inspirational? Lyrics like that and the music just makes you feel you can do anything). Some of my favorite songs come from 1776 (hey I told you in a previous post that my family can quote that movie). It's John Adams' song, Is Anybody...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Does anyone remember the song If I Had A Million Dollars by Barenaked Ladies ? I can't remember when or how I was first introduced to this song, but it's a fun song. So, how about if you had a million dollars? What would you do with it? Of course there's the responsible things to do with a million dollars--pay off debts, and such like that. Then there's the question of whether or not you give to charities, and how much. But, suppose you answered all those questions and you still had quite a lot left; what would you do with it? Maybe I'd go to Disney World. I've wanted to go, and I've never been able to. Or, perhaps I'd go to Germany and England, and Belgium (three of the countries my ancestors are from). Travel around seeing family and friends I don't see often. There's all kinds of possibilities. So, what about you? What would you do with a million dollars? Have A Tremendous Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday All, For those who are wracking their brain about where the quote from my title comes from, it's from Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarves . I know this post is a bit late in the day for me to post, but at the time when I normally post I wasn't completely satisfied with any of the ideas that I had. (Although, I think some of you might've enjoyed talking about cakes, ice cream and donuts, right?) In any case, looking at the margin of my blog sparked any idea. If you look on the right hand side (where my big margin is on here) and arrow down a bit, you'll find my play list for my novel, SURREAL.  Now, I don't always listen to music while I work, but every now and again it comes in handy. Like one day I was listening to The Cure 's Friday I'm In Love   while I worked on one of my novels. (Yeah, I really like 1980's music...I like some other music, too, of course, but there are several titles from the 1980's that I really l...

Happy Friday One And All, No, I'm not talking about musicals, as in the plays with songs, I'm talking about actual music. While writing Surreal I listened to Chris De Burgh, Ramones , Paul Anka , Buddy Holly, REM, Henry Purcell Clark (Trumpet Voluntary ) , The Righteous Brothers, They Might Be Giants, Optional 2, Roxette ( It Must've Been Love ), Bonnie Taylor, Neil Diamond, The Everly Brothers, Lowen & Navarro, Eric Genius, Kci & Jo Jo, and Savage Garden. Quite a motley crew, especially considering that the They Might Be Giants songs I listened to were from one of their kids' albums (they have 2 out that I know about), Optional 2 a mish -mash of musical stylings and hip hop, and Ramones ...well, Ramones is punk rock. Considering that I was writing a paranormal romance, some of this might seem a bit out of place. In all honesty, sometimes it was just something was playing while I was writing and other times, the mood just hit me to go ahead and put it o...