I do have some writing news which I hope to share soon, but I also have a new site underconstruction, which I hope to unveil at the same time!

Things have been a little bit crazy around here. I've had strep throat for the first time in my life (OUCH!)_ it's not fun. The kiddos have been sick too and we've had birthday parties and such going on.

Happy Monday!

 

I said I've been reading some books lately and that's true. Last year I caught up on some book - buying. I was seriously behind so there is no danger of my TBR mountain getting low anytime soon, heck it was big before I went on a buying spree. But I had a few series I needed to catch up on and - Jaci's Wild Rider's was one. And OMG it was so worth it (and side note, I knew it would be, Jaci is a dear friend and I've always enjoyed her stories). These two were no exception as a matter of fact they were excellent, fun reads and the best part - the next Wild Riders book will be out April 7th

&&&&& Jaci is sponsoring a MONTH LONG contest with WICKED EXCELLENT PRIZES to CELEBRATE! Go here to check it out!

Now to get you ready for the next one... here's a little about the first two in the series (which for some reason I have to read Js in order, go figure, lol)

 

Oh I see Riding Wild is currently @ a bargain price so if you don't have it, rush over and grab it from Amazon!  & FROM AMAZON - Product Description
He's a Harley-riding ex-thief...she's a gun-toting ex-socialite. Together they'll take the ride of a lifetime in this erotic romance from "an undoubted master."*

Mac Canfield was the last man Lily West expected to see again, never mind aim her gun at. But there he was, the bad boy who'd broken her heart years ago-still a thief, hijacking a priceless artifact-and it was all she could do to push aside the memories of how it felt to have his perfectly chiseled body next to hers.

Mac was no less shocked to see the beautiful girl next-door again, threatening to shoot him. Little did she know she was blowing his cover. He had to get her out of harm's way without succumbing to his desire to take her on a hot trip down memory lane.

But Lily has no intention of going anywhere with Mac, which means he'll have to resort to kidnapping. Unless she agrees to let him take her for the kind of ride destined to drive them both unbelievably wild.

That's what they say - what I say Lily is a heroine who can hold her own and ending up with Mac was worth being kidnapped :) And finding out his on the up and up and working for the government is no less than she really expected.  

The second one in the series....

Must say I love, love, love that cover. In Riding Temptation both the hero Delgado, and the heroine, Jessie are members of the Wild Riders and we meet more of the team and learn more of their backgrounds in this book.  Jessie's the kid sister of the group, the only 'girl' around (before Lily shows up in Riding Wild). It's her first assignment and she's determined to so a good job and get her man.

 

Next up...

 

I've only read a wee bit of the opening in the back of book 2, but I can say from 'meeting' the hero, Spener in the first two books I can't wait to read this one his funny and sexy and arrogant, lol what's not to love?

 

 

I’m actually back on track and getting a few ‘must do’ things done! So – Yay Me! Since I’m spending this year as Vice President of HeartLA, I’m in charge of our meetings, guest speakers and workshops – whoa. Totally why I was terrified of the position, but I’m happy to say that is working out wonderfully and we are going to have some kick-ass speakers and a some great writing workshops. I’m also happy to say HeartLA has grown in membership in the past couple of years and the first two meets of this year have been awesome. We’re getting stuff done as a group and focusing on our own writing!

 

I’ve made a few tough decision about some of my writing projects lately and have a game plan… thou in this business I know it’s going to be a wait and see process. But after a much needed holiday recovery - break, I can say I do have plans/goals, etc. and have started to set what I have control over into motion.

 

And… I will be back in the next couple of days with some reviews as I have read some absolutely-can’t-put-down books lately – two series, two different authors – all will blow your socks off. And both have new releases – end of March and first of April!

Isn’t a baby anymore… she is FOUR today. Sigh. This was taken a couple of months ago, but it captures her attitude perfectly most days … so perfect in fact she wasn’t up to a new picture this morning like I wanted. I will try again later.

We baked a cake and decorated it for her preschool and because she knows how to spell her name she wanted her name at the top of the cake, so she brought a cake to school that said it all backwards, but that’s her.

Oh and her new quote from yesterday while the cake decorating was happening – “I’m a genius.”

SPOILERS…. LARS and the Real Girl

Although my brother is much younger than I am he knows my movie taste pretty well. Honestly he when he tells me I’ll like a movie about 70% of the time he’s right, his odds are better than our mother and his wife, though to give her credit, she hasn’t known me very long and she does pretty good working with those odds. Our mother? We just don’t have the same taste in movies very often. The newlyweds have a huge movie DVD collection of the assorted variety. So when I visit them, I ‘check out’ movies from their house  (since most of our own DVDs belong to my kids with a few choice movies I could watch over and over).

Well… They (the newly weds) have me watching the Buffy television series right now… they own all seven seasons; I have to say, so far, so good. Having never watched Buffy when it was on originally its sort of fun to watch it all in a row. Saturday I was in a movie mood, so when I stopped by their place, I picked up a new stack of movies to watch. I usually sit on their floor and start where I left off in the alphabet, well I did that and had a few, then they chime in about this one and that one, which is great. I love getting their take on the movies. Well I picked up this one box… then I put it back. My brother says, yeah, you’ll like that one. So I pull it back off, look at the cover again; one of them says it’s better than it sounds, so I didn’t even read the blurb.

Being home alone I take the opportunity to watch a few movies. I pick up this one in particular, wondering what it’s about. I start watching it and it’s one of those movies where I get up and start reading the boxes of all the other movies I brought home. I have to admit there have been times I have tried to watch one of their movies and just stopped. Refused to waste my time. Like Fargo… I’ve tried about three or four times, it’s a NO for me. But I keep watching this movie for whatever reason.  Weird, odd, whatever I keep watching. Wham Bam, Lars has a package. It has to be something. Wham Bam. Lars has a blow up doll, who’s very religious and has to live in the pink room with his brother and his wife (who live in the house Lars and brother own while Lars lives in the garage). And the doctors says it’s okay, play along… and the WHOLE FREAKING TOWN DOES… yeah I watched until she died… and had a funeral…Lars and the Real Girl? Epic Fail.

 

A wonderful contest, by a wonderful author... The Lovely Cynthia Eden. Go forth and enter!

Yesterday was Mardi Gras. Today is Ash Wednesday. I didn’t go into the office Monday or Tuesday, but I will today. Does that make it a short workweek? Or A workweek crammed into three days? This week it feels like one of those times when the workweek will be crammed into a short amount of time. I’ve got lots of day job stuff going on right now. I’ve got lots of writing stuff going on right now too.

 

My RWA Chapter meeting is this weekend and I’ll be giving the workshop, therefore I should umm, prepare the workshop! I’m not usually so terrible about putting these things together, but for some reason I haven’t been in the ‘mood’ to do it.

 

 I think it’s the cold. It’s a darn good thing I live in the south, because I’m telling you now I could not handle northern winters!

I couldn't do this everyday ~ I'd freeze to death!

I don’t seem to have any moments of wisdom lately. Just a lot of rambling posts. I’ve been in an odd mood, first the holidays, now we are into the birthday releam around our house. I’ve had dozens of things going on in a dozen different directions.

 I just can’t seem to focus on much of anything. Which is sort like my writing. I love to write the first draft, but after that, I loose focus. I know I need to find a way around this, but so far – not a. I have been plotting a few stories out on paper. Ones that are different that anything I’ve written before and ones I’m not sure I actually intend to write. Mostly I see it as a dump of information to give my brain a break. I figure if I write it down, maybe I can move away from the ideas for a period of time. And get back to writing everyday.

I got up before dawn to cook breakfast for the now 12 yr old!

Hard to believe she's already 12. Time flies, kids change so fast! Happy Birthday Baby!

I finished a few projects. I sent out a couple of submissions. I stepped away from my WIP and the final draft of another project.

 

I’ve been reading, researching and thinking. I’ve plotted two stories out on paper, which is something I’ve never done before. They’re not plotted from start to finish but I have a good handle on both. I’ve never written in either genre before, but both have called my name from time to time, hence the plotting and playing with the story ideas.

 

Sometimes it’s important to re-charge the creative battery and that’s what I’ve been doing.

I’ve never been much of a ‘goal’ setter. I just don’t get the point. At least I never did before. I’ve been doing some research for a workshop I am giving for HeartLA this month so maybe I will be back with some goals a little later.

 

For me it’s always been - what do I need to accomplish to get to point A or to get from point A to point B, which in a way I guess could be seen as setting goals, finish one thing to get to the next step. And I guess for me the biggest thing I don’t get about setting goals is - unrealistic goals. It’s not in my nature, I mean why set myself up for failure? Seriously?

 I’d rather move along at the pace I know I can hang with and move forward. Sure there are times I move backward, but for me it’s more about focus. I need motivation and determination more than I need to know what the ultimate end ‘goal’ is.

Or in my case, last month and not same book, same series. I needed to step away from my WIP so I picked up the Twilight series, which my soon to be 12 yr old has been reading. Or rather she is reading the first book, I'm on the last. I wanted to 'see' what she was reading and 'see' how far I am comfortable letting her read.

Hope to be back to the regularly scheduled life next week :)

I saw this on Jaci's  the other day and it looked fun. And I'm up for something new to blog about so I asked to participate. Please don't let this die here, do I even have four blog readers? LOL. She posted an interview, then took 4 people and interviewed them. I was one of them. Here’s the questions she came up for me and my answers:

1.    You have to give up eating one of your favorite foods. What¹s it going to be?

Ack. McDonald’s French fries, I love them, but they are so bad for me, giving them up would be a good thing, right?

2.    When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Pilot. I have no idea why, but there it is.

3.    What song makes you cry?

Butterfly Kisses. My oldest was a baby when this came out and I’ve always blamed it on the hormones, but I love that song  One more – Roes for Mama, OMG I can not hear it without balling like a baby, I normally turn the channel if it comes on the radio.

4.    If you had your choice of watching an adult film with all men or all women, which would you choose?

Women. We could dish on all the details.

5.    Would you rather inadvertently fart in a crowd of important peers or tuck your dress into your underwear after using the restroom and not be
aware of it until someone told you?

Um neither? Okay the fart.

If you want to be part of the interview fun, follow the instructions below:

1 Post ‘interview me’ somewhere in your reply. I’ll do like Jaci did and take the first 4 people who post. I’ll choose questions just for you (no, they won’t be the same ones I was asked).

2 Be sure to include your email address (which is required to post on my blog anyway) so that I can send you the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the questions and your answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will get to ask them five questions.

Your horoscope for January 22, 2009 Love certainly seems to be making the world go round today, Rhonda. Is everyone around you deeply involved in a new or revitalized romantic relationship? You yourself may be smitten with a very exciting person, perhaps from a foreign country, or in the field of law, education, or publishing. Don't fight it, and don't worry about being hurt. Relax and let yourself be loved. If nothing else, you should have a wonderful day!