Me, Myself and I

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Today is the second to last stop on my virtual book tour. I'm at Me, Myself and I talking about how I came to write at Harlequin Romance. It goes all the way back to my senior year at Central Valley High School in Veradale, Washington. Stop by if you have time! Comment to enter the tour giveaway. The prize is a $20 Amazon gift card to be given away to one commenter from the tour.

Don't forget to comment to enter the contest here. You have until March 1 to enter!

Contest Reminder

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I've changed from my church clothes into my sweats. A cup of iced tea sits on the table beside me. I can't stand the taste of coffee, but I love tea both iced and hot! It's almost time to start writing.

First, I wanted to remind you of the contest that's been running on this blog all month. Each comment on the blog gives you an entry into my book giveaway.

My good friend and Avalon author, Shirley Marks, and her sweet daughter collected these books at various RWA national conferences they attended while I stayed home. I've been meaning to give them away, but life and my health got in the way. I figured now was as good a time since things always seem to be crazy around here. 

As you can see there are lots of books.

Most of the romance genre is represented: category, contemporary, historical, paranoral, suspense, thriller, etc. A lot of different authors. Some well-known, others that may be new to you.

There are ARCs, paperbacks, trades, a CD and a couple hardbacks. Four boxes of books in all. Some titles have more than one copy.

I hope you can see everything clearly!


For books with more than one author, we decided to go with the author's name who was listed first. With this many books, we just needed to get it done!

My 10 year old son is the one put them in alphabetical order for me. He worked diligently putting all the titles out on the carpet. He had three rows of them in perfect order until Chaos wanted to see.

Thanks to the dog, he had to start over again. So sweet of him to do this for me!

Hubby took the pictures and uploaded them for me. A family effort this weekend!

I also have a package of Novel Tea that I'll be giving to the three winners!

On my Girls' Weekend with blog readers Dru and Amy in August, I picked these up at the Sylvia Beach Hotel, where we stayed in Newport, Oregon.




More contest info is located on the navbar, but it's pretty simple. To enter, comment on this blog. Each comment gets you an entry.

Three winners will be chosen at random from all the comments posted through March 1st.

You may have multiple entries, but you can only win once. That's something I'm changing from my other giveaways. But I really want to give as many people as I can the change to win free books. I hope you understand!


Are there any titles in the picture that catch your eye? What are they?

And are there any you've read that you'd recommend to the winners?

Hope you have a great Sunday!

Oops!

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If you lived at my house, you'd understand why the above lolcat made me laugh. It pretty much sums up my furbabies on a weekly (often daily) basis. One of them (cats or dog) is always getting into or doing something. I look at them and can just tell by the expression on their face. But it keeps me entertained (when I'm not having to clean up the messes) and they give so much in return!

We still have snow! The roads are clear so it's perfect. Love days like this.

Today I'm staying inside and writing. My hero and heroine are going backcountry skiing on Mount Hood. I roughed out the scene a couple weeks ago and spoke to one of my research contacts to fill in the gaps. Now I'm ready to rewrite it!

A big thanks to everyone who's been buying Expecting Royal Twins! Harlequin Presents author Jennie Lucas let me know it's #6 on the Mills & Boon weekly bestseller list. It's packaged with Cara Colter's To Dance with the Prince title so the credit is more hers than mine. I'm so happy to be paired with her. I've been loving Cara's books since she wrote for Silhouette Romance.

The book's still hanging in there with the Nook sales ranking, too. I'd only been looking at the overall sales ranking, but Barbara Freethy, whose Angel's Bay books are totally awesome reads, let me know it was on the Contemporary Romance Bestseller list. When I looked this morning it was #38! So cool! I'm trying not to look at rankings too much because they jump all over the place and I have to write, but I must admit it's been really fun to watch over the last two weeks.

Well, I'd better get to work. I'll check in here when I take breaks so let me know what you've got going on in your corner of the world.

Peeking in...

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The next week my online time will be limited. I'll post links to my two remaining virtual book tour stops on Monday and Tuesday, but blogging will be brief. My manuscript is due on the 7th, and finishing that is my priority.

If you have time, drop by Sandra's Blog and say hi! That's today's stop on my virtual book tour. Izzy, my heroine from Expecting Royal Twins!, is asking an etiquette columnist to help her become royalty. If you comment there, you'll be entered to win a $20 Amazon gift card. Two more stops to go and then the tour will be over! It's been fun, but for someone who's done hardly any promoting over this years, It's been a lot and a little overwhelming!

Hope you have a great Friday!

Snow Day Finally!

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This describes my family perfect. Add in a dog named Chaos and snow...total craziness around here.  But big, fluffy white flakes are covering everything right now!

My wishing for snow has finally paid off. All those nights of the kidlets wearing their jammies inside out haven't been for naught. Yes, it's snowing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. It's still early in the morning, but it's a winter wonderland outside, a scene straight out of Narnia! The kidlets are going to be so excited!

So will the dog. Chaos loves bounding through the snow. Her fave jaunt is up to Mount Hood to hike up the glacier, but we haven't had the time (or enough of us healthy) to do that this winter. 

The cats, who always are inside, could care less about the white stuff everyone oohs and aahs about. They'd rather have the attention directed toward them. They act rather perturbed when they don't get it.

Needless to say, it'll be a fun day!

A couple book related things for you...

Today, I'm making another stop on my virtual book tour at The Heart of Romance. I'm interviewing Prince Niko and Princess Izzy from Expecting Royal Twins! It should be fun so I hope you stop by. Be sure to comment at the book tour stop. Each comment enters you to win a $20 Amazon gift card. Only three more stops to go after this one!

I also have a brand new author page at Facebook. It went up last night. My web designer Julie of Blogger Boutique (formerly Zip.Zog.Zoom.) created a fun welcome landing page. It's right there on the left. You can get there by pressing the "f" button up on the right below the Connect with Me heading. I'd love to get 25 people to like the page so I (okay, Julie) can name it for me. Hint. Hint.

If you happen to be looking for someone to design a blogger template or a Facebook landing page, I can't recommend Julie more highly. She's easy to work with, patient with crazy schedules like mine and very quick.

Hope you have a great Thursday.  I'm  looking forwarded to playing in the snow and writing!  How about you?

Sci-fi Geekiness

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I'm a total geek so it's no surprise I thought this YouTube clip was so funny. Take a look and make sure you listen to the lyrics.



The fact I can get so many of sci-fi references probably takes my nerdiness and fangirl status to a new level. Oh, well, my kids will tell you just how uncool I am!

No blog tour stops today! But if you comment here, you're entered into my website contest. I've decided to have my oldest kidlet take a picture of all the books winners can choose from. I'll probably need a few pics, but that will be faster than me typing them in. With a manuscript due March 7th, I have little free time right now.

Are you busy or are things relaxed? I'm looking forward to relaxing on March 8th!

Book of the Week!

Thanks to everyone who voted this weekend! Expecting Royal Twins! was voted LASR's Book of the Week!

I'm so excited. A book of mine hasn't won anything since way back in 2002 when In Deep Waters... won the Romantic Times Best Silhouette Romance Award so this is very cool for me.

One of the prizes was the nifty button on the right! I also received this video made by Goddess Fish Promotions:



Today, I'm talking about how a character comes to me at My Eclectic Bookshelf. I hope you'll stop by and say hi! Remember your comment there enters you to win a $20 Amazon gift card.

Wet!

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This weekend was the Oregon Swimming Championships. We call it State even though the entire state doesn't compete there and we actually live in Washington. But we are so close to the Oregon border, it makes more sense for us to be affiliated there than up in Seattle.

The ten year old and the eight year old swam. Both did well. I'm very proud of them! My son had a better day on Saturday than Sunday, but that happens sometimes. A good life lesson. My youngest swam in two relays today. The best part was swimming with the three other girls. I swear my kids would rather be in a pool or skiing on snow. Water seems to be the connecting factor to many of their fave activities.

Another virtual book tour stop today. I'm at Romance That is Out of the World. I'm talking about how I came up with the idea for Expecting Royal Twins! Remember to head over there and comment if you want to be entered in the book tour's $20 Amazon gift certificate giveaway.

Update: Thanks for your votes. Expecting Royal Twins! is the Book of the Week at LASR! I'll post the video they made me tomorrow!

Help Me Win!

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I received the following email yesterday from Long and Short Reviews:

Your story "­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Expecting Royal Twins!" was reviewed by us this week and is up for Best Book honor this weekend (voting runs from Saturday, Feb 19th through Sunday Feb 20th). We thought you might like to know.

I'm so excited. It's very cool whenever someone picks your book for something like this, but what's even cooler are the prizes:

The winning author gets a nifty button and the privilege of having their book or story featured at the top of that page the entire next week, as well as getting a custom made video from Goddess Fish Promotions to publicize their review and the win!

Aren't those cool prizes? I would love to win, so do you think you could help me out? Please go here. There will be great romance reviews for you to peruse. If you read another review that sounds really good to you, vote for that book. But if you like what you read with Expecting Royal Twins? review, I'd appreciate your support!

Thanks so much!

A week of rest

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Remember when I posted about speaking to two 7th and 8th grade classes about writing and revising last week? They sent me the sweetest Thank You card yesterday. Everyone from both classes had signed it. They also enclosed a Starbuck's gift card. It was so thoughtful and nice of them! I was very touched.

I can't wait to get to Starbucks. I've been out of the house only a handful of times this week. It's been really nice getting so much rest. Of course, I feel like a total slug. I keep telling myself I should have written more, but all that sleep was definitely needed. I think the happiest in our household have been the cats. They've enjoyed long days napping with mommy!

Today, I hope to get caught up on my writing. Sleep sort of took precedent this week. I have managed to get a few key scenes written and some research done. Monday, I plan to start back at the beginning and spend two weeks pulling it all together!

Expecting Royal Twins did get a very lovely review from Long and Short Reviews. I was so thrilled when I read it. You can find it here.

I'm not doing any virtual book stop tours today. I've tried to spread them out a little bit. But it's been fun reading all the comments at the various blogs! You can still comment on them for an entry into the giveaway. The links are on my news page above.

A Card

This is the card hubby got me for Valentine's Day. Do you notice anything about the design?

I thought it looked familiar. It took me a few seconds until I realized why.

Me: It looks like my website.

Hubby: I know.

Me: Did you get this because of that?

Hubby: You really have to ask that.

Me to myself: Okay, probably not.

He pointed out the little birds. The hearts. The colors. Very sweet, indeed. I couldn't have asked for a better card.

Even though I love to ski, climb and hike and I don't wear a lot of dresses, make-up and jewelry, I'm still a total girly girl. I love hearts and flowers and little birdies. When the new website design went live last year, one of my RCRW chaptermates said it was so me. Yep! And so is my Valentine's Day card.

Today I'm at another stop on my virtual book tour. I'm being interviewed at the Book Junkie. Stop bye and say hi! You're comment there will enter you in the Amazon gift card giveaway. Plus it'll keep me from getting lonely!

Finally...

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If kovert kitteh was staring out the window at my house, he'd see...SNOW!

Yes, it's finally snowing. Nothing's sticking, but I love seeing the big, fat snowflakes fall from the sky. This is what we've been waiting for all winter. Hope we accumulate enough for the kidlet's to build a snowman!

There's no virtual book tour stop today. I purposely took Wednesdays off because they were so busy. Today, however, is a day of rest. I won't be teaching this afternoon, but resting so I can recover.

Spending my time in bed has let me sleep, cuddle with animals, write and play on the Internet. I've been tweeting a bit and managed to get 1200 words written in a one hour challenge with a couple other romance writers. I've also been watching sales of my book, something I rarely have time or inclination to do, and feeling seriously love for my bn.com NOOKbook readers.

This morning I checked my sales rank and yelled to hubby I was at 262 (best I've ever seen.) He said, "I hope that's pages." Grrr.

I heard from my editor. She wanted to know if I had any visuals for the Christmas book. (The one I'm currently writing.) Today they are talking about the cover art. I sent her a few ideas. The last two Christmas Magic/Hood Hamlet books have had horse drawn sleighs on the covers. I can't help but wonder what they'll come up with.

Okay, I'd better get... Well, not busy. I'll be spending it in bed again except for helping get the Atrium at church set up. But I did sleep in today, and I'm a little hungry. Time for breakfast! Hope the snow is still falling!

Have a nice day!

Cuteness

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That little kitten is just too cute! One look and I'd be at that kitty's mercy. How about you?

Speaking of cute, my furbabies were definitely pulling my heartstrings yesterday.

First, we had an earthquake. Something was going on underneath Mount St. Helen's. I was in bed lying against the wall when the entire room shook. I've been through enough earthquakes when I lived in California to know exactly what was happening. Not Spirit. She sat and stared at me with wide eyes as if wanting me to make the shaking stop. I only felt the first quake, but given her reaction I think she was aware of both of them. Poor kitty. She didn't leave my side for a very long time.

As you can guess, when I'm in bed either writing or napping, the cats and dog like to keep me company.  Yesterday was no exception. They don't all get along so they rotate who gets to sleep on or by me. It's pretty darn adorable. At one point all the cats napped on the pile of laundry on the bed waiting to be folded. I posted the pic on facebook to see how many cats could be found. Brandy, who comments here, got the correct answer.

We also had some good news on Valentine's day. My youngest's test result came back negative. Huge sigh of relief there. And best Valentine's gift ever.

Today I'm being interviewed as I make another stop on my virtual book tour at Grace Elliot's blog.  Please stop by and say hello if you have time!  Grace writes historical fiction and is a big fan of cats, too. She's also a vet!

Note:  I posted a comment this morning on the virtual tour blog, but it never appeared. I checked back throughout the day, but still no comments appeared. I think the host must have had moderation on and never checked her email. So sorry!  Whenever comments do go up, they will count for the amazon gift card giveaway at the end of the tour.  I'll be at another tour stop on the 17th!

Remember, if you comment at today's book tour stop you're entered to win a $20 Amazon gift certificate that I'll give away to one commenter at the end of the book tour. And if you comment here on this blog post, you're entered to win books. Sorry I still haven't had time to type the titles in. As soon as I'm feeling better I will!

Did you watch any of the Westminster Dog Show?  I was so thrilled to see the Norwegian Elkhound place third in the Hound Group! Very exciting. We were all pulling for him during the competition.

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Valentine's Day has always been special to me. Given I'm a romance writer, it's kind of like a national holiday. We never do anything huge or make grand gestures, but it's those little things—a special card or an extra kiss or favorite chocolate candy—that make the day so special. Not just for hubby and me, but our entire family. But I realize those celebrating love can and should happen every day. Not just the fourteenth of February.

A good thing because our Valentine's day is going to be a little different this year. And it's totally my fault for not taking better care of myself.

Being stuck in bed doesn't make for a great Valentine's Day. Let me fix that...being stuck in bed sick.

This weekend I was diagnosed with a sinus infection and pleurisy. Neither are much fun. But given I had an EKG to rule out heart problems and a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia, a mass in my lungs and a few other not so good things, I'd say I ended up with the better diagnosis.

I actually got my Valentine's Day present early. The relief I saw on hubby's face when I walked into the lobby after a three hour examination told me more about his love than anything he could have bought me. The kidlets, too.

I'm making a stop on my virtual book tour today at Hearticles. I'm blogging about category romance. I'll also be giving away a book in honor of Valentine's Day so stop by and say hi! I'll be checking in throughout the day.

And finally, check out how Adam Young of Owl City responds to Taylor Swift's song Enchanted about her crush on him. Talk about a hero move. The "shy boy" did well! Must admit, I'm curious what will happen next!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Shameless Self-Promotion Time

I have a book out right now, a Harlequin Romance titled Expecting Royal Twins! If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know I don't do much promo, but I decided to dip my big toe into the water with this book. Last week was the launch party for my virtual book tour.

Each stop on the virtual book tour will be a little different. Some are interview formats. Others are posts I wrote based on topics suggested by blog owners. At least one has nothing to do with writing or my book at all!

I'm running a contest with the tour. One commenter will win a $20 amazon.com gift card. Just comment and you'll be entered. You can comment at one book tour stop for one entry or at each of the stops for ten. It's up to you!

Here's my virtual book tour itinerary:

February 11: Launch Party at Goddess Fish Party Pavilion
February 14: Hearticles
February 15: Grace Elliot- gripping historical romance
February 17: Book Junkie
February 21: Romance That's Out of This World
February 22: My Eclectic Bookshelf
February 24: The Heart of Romance
February 25: Sandra's Blog
February 28: Me, My Muse and I
March 1: Ryshia Kennie's - Once Upon A Time...

When I'm going to be blogging at a tour stop, I'll stick a link here with the topic so it'll be easy to find me. You can also find the list of where I'll be on my News page. I'll update the links to the exact posts once I have them.

I posted the book's Romantic Times review on my News page, but I can't remember if I posted it here on the blog so here it is. My apologies if I've already put it here. This is what the reviewer had to say:

EXPECTING ROYAL TWINS! (4) by Melissa McClone: Nikola Kresimir, crown prince of Vernonia, arrives at the North Carolina garage where Isabel Poussard works as an auto mechanic. The Balkan prince shocks Izzy by informing her that she is really a princess from Vernonia and his child bride. Niko takes her to Vernonia to reclaim her title and fortune, and to annul their marriage so he can marry another princess. McClone tells a fast-paced, fun tale in a way that makes the lost-princess plot seem surprisingly fresh. War-weary Niko comes across as an insightful character who holds a true respect for Izzy’s tough, working-class values.

Reviewed By: Roseann Marlett

Okay, self-promo over.

Ready for the weekend!

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This cozy, relaxing LOLcat is exactly the kind of weekend I'm hoping for. Last night we all watched Secretariat together. I already slept in late today. Much needed since I hadn't slept much the past three nights due to sick kidlets.

Not that it'll be all napping and playtime the next two days. I have a couple of places I need to be. I also have pages to catch up on. But writing isn't work. At least not for a couple of more weeks when the deadline will start looming.

Any weekend plans of your own?

Biker Cat and Launch Party

Did you know there's a It's Okay to be a Cat Guy promotion? I love the idea. A few of my heroes have had cats. Will in His Band of Gold, Drake in Memo: The Billionaire's Proposal and in my upcoming July release.

You can read more about it in this article from The Examiner. You can also check out the Facebook page here. Check out this clip:



Do you know any cat guys?

Today is also the launch party for my ten stop virtual book tour that will run between now and March 1. It's here at Goddess Fish Party Pavilion. I'll be giving away a $20 amazon.com book card to one commenter from the tour so be sure to stop by and comment at all the stops. Hope to see you there!

Have a nice Friday!

A talk on writing and revising

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On Monday, my motto was I can do it. It's Thursday and I'm just not so sure now. I was up with the first kidlet at 12:30 and 3:30. A second kidlet is now sick. Hubby doesn't get home until tomorrow night.

I would love to crawl in bed and have someone wake me up when it was time for noms, I mean lunch. But that's not going to happen.

This morning, I'll be giving a talk to two different middle school classes about writing and revising. Of course, my daughter who is in one of these classes is sick so won't be there. But she probably hears enough about writing from me already. I'm excited to talk to the kids. I've read a composition from many of them, and I hope a few tips will help them to understand the importance of revisions. Note to self: do not mention blog post from last week about youngest kidlet's view of revising.

I put together a two page handout with what I consider the most important basics to better writing. I use Dwight V. Swain to talk about his motivation-reaction units and how to respond to stimuli and in what order (feeling, action, speech.) I also show examples of using passive voice and filtering words.

I'm also embracing the Show, Don't Tell philosophy. I've printed off five prologues from Rescued by the Magic of Christmas. Two of these versions contain my critique partner's remarks. I figure if they see what I started with and how I revised until I got to what was published, it might help them see the importance of revisions and why writers revise. Again, I'm hoping to have better luck with these 12, 13 and 14 year olds than my own 8 year old.

Wish me luck!

A quick post

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If I had the chance to lie on the carpet, I wouldn't be swimming. I'd be sound asleep. But I have admit I'd watch any event with cats.

Not much sleep last night due to sick kidlet followed by an early run to urgent care. Why does this always happen when hubby is out of town?

Hope you have a nice day! I'm already counting the hours until bedtime!

Kitty Love

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Those are some cute kitties! I especially like the Happy Kitty. What about you?

The Sleepy Kitty reminds me of Super Bowl Sunday. We watched the game at my parents' house. My sister's family came too.

Cupcake, my niece's kitten, tagged along. The kitty is a few months old and has had quite a few health issues since being adopted from the humane society. Last week she had an allergic reaction to a vaccination. Poor kitty.

She's a real cute, a black and white tuxedo cat. But my niece is a little upset with her. Cupcake only likes to be with one person...my dad. The cat won't go to anyone else.

The kitten spent most of the game on my dad's recliner, sleeping against his leg and the chair arm. More than once, the Super Bowl was forgotten because everyone had to see Cupcake's newest sleeping position. Even the boys!

But no one could touch Cupcake. My dad wouldn't let anyone, not even the grandkids, near her. "Don't bother the cat. She's sleeping." Forget "Go Packers." The other became the mantra during the game.

It was pretty funny how protective my dad was with the kitten. He claims not to like pets. But they sure love him.

I remember when I was a teenager and woke up early one morning. I found my dad in the kitchen making little piles of canned cat food on a plate for our cat Dupree. The cat would eat a pile and then get another. This was a cat my dad had called "that damn cat" on more than one occasion. Yet, here he was practically hand feeding that same cat.

Makes me wonder what treats he might be giving to Cupcake when no on is looking! Homemade jerky, anyone?

Can do it!

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This is my motto for the week when it comes to writing and everything else. We'll see how I do!

Did you watch the Super Bowl? I was happy the Green Packers won. I enjoyed the commercials. VW Darth Vader, the Bridgestone Beaver and the truck save Timmy were some of my faves. What about you?

Super Bowl Sunday

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Today's the big day! The game. The commercials. A new Glee.

Hubby is a Jets fan so he's a little disappointed they aren't there today. But he'll be rooting for the Green Bay Packers.

His brother even sent him a cheese head top hat to wear during the game. The kidlets have been having fun with it. We tried to stick Yoda inside it for a pic, but that didn't work too well.

The Star Wars ad I posted a couple of days ago will be shown. It sounds like there may be a few good ones this year. I'll be watching the commercials closer than the game to tell the truth. I'll probably be writing, too.

What about you? Are you rooting for one team over the other? Who do you hope wins? And any commercials you're especially looking forward to?

Perfectionist

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This picture reminds me of a few things. One of my cats, one of my kidlets and a small part of myself. I used to be more of a perfectionist. I think that is part of the oldest child, overachievers R us mentality. Lack of time and perhaps age have curbed that tendency.

I still struggle with the writing. But having contractual deadlines helps with that. It also helps to realize nothing can be perfect. That lessens the frustrations and feelings of futility I remember in my teens and twenties.

I wish my youngest kidlet could see that now.

Her very first multiplication test with sixes happened last Friday. She got 88 out of 100. I thought that was great. The twelve she missed were problems she didn't have time to answer. But no, she was so upset because she didn't get all of them correct. Anything less than 100% is no good in her mind. This translate to each and every subject. Fortunately she's a pretty sharp kid and usually aces everything. But we're working on how to deal with it when she doesn't.

Yesterday she had to revise a narrative in language arts. She couldn't understand why she had to revise it when all she ended up doing was making mistakes. But the entire lesson was about...drumroll...revising. Yes, she'd written her composition very well considering it was a first draft. But this lesson specifically asked her to add words, details and sentences in order to learn proofreading marks. This frustrated her to no end!

Her: This makes no sense. Why do I have to revise?

Me: Because that's what writers do.

Her: How do you know what writers do?

Me to myself: Is she serious? Okay, she just turned eight a couple weeks ago. But still...

Me to her as I point to one of my books and wonder if I should show her all the books I've published: See Mommy's name. I wrote that book. I'm a writer. I revise. I know lots of writers. They all revise, too.

Her: You know lots of writers.

Me as I realize I've spoken with that same tone of disbelief: Yes.

Her: How many do you know?

Me to myself: Maybe I should have stuck to raising cats. I do a quick calculation of the writers in the various RWA chapters I've belonged to over the years, the ones I've met at conferences and the ones I know online. She is the kind of kid who may want an exact number and ask me to prove it.

Me to her: Hundreds.

Her: That many.

Me to myself: She's going to want to know who they all are. Don't let her go there. You still haven't met your word count goal for today.

Me to her: Yes, and they all revise.

Her: All of them?

Me to myself: Better leave some room in case she decides to do a little research of her own and finds the one author who doesn't revise. Heaven help me, if I happen to know them.

Me to her: Most of the ones I know do. So start revising.

She rewrote the narrative about her trip to Build-A-Bear on her birthday. Unfortunately she forgot a sentence. After some tears and coaxing from me, she added the words and drew an arrow to where it should go.

Her: It's so much easier to write it perfect the first time, Mommy.

Me to myself: I'm sure it is. I'd love to be able to do that. I'm guessing so would a few hundred of my writer friends.

A great commercial and guest blogging

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The Star Wars Fangirl in me loves this clip! Take a look:



Well done, Volkswagon!

I'm also interviewed today at Behind the Book about my new release Expecting Royal Twins! Please stop by if you have time! Thanks.

Have a great Thursday!

When a romance hero sends a Valentine...

This came across my newsfeed on Facebook yesterday. It's brought to you by Tiny Prints. Clever and funny. Enjoy!



Gotta love the fan blowing in his face! Remember, Valentine's Day is in less than two weeks! Don't forget to buy or make your sweetie a card!

Release Day!

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Today isn't as exciting as the release of the Kraken, but it is the release day for my newest Harlequin Romance, Expecting Royal Twins!

This is the story of a mechanic from Charlotte, NC who discovers she's a princess of a faraway country in the Balkans. But Izzy Poussard is so not princess material.  Not that Crown Prince Niko Kresimir would ever be mistaken for Prince Charming.

You can find more info about the book by going to my Booklist. There you'll find the cover blurb, an excerpt and links to purchase.

In honor of the book's release, I have two contests for you!

One contest will run here on the blog. My friend and Avalon author, Shirley Marks, sent me a box of romance novels by various authors that I haven't had time to give away. The prize will be romance books (at least five) and a small package of Novel Teas. As soon as I have a spare moment, I'll type in the titles on the contest page.  Three winners will be selected on March 2nd and announced on the blog. Each comment you make, starting today and through March 1, 2001 gets you an entry. So be sure to comment.

I'll also doing a virtual book tour beginning February 11th. One commenter from the virtual book tour will win a $20 amazon.com gift card. I'll post more info about where you can go to enter that contest later. The super sweet, patient women at Goddess Fish Promotions are setting the tour up for me. I only decided to do this recently, and I appreciate their assistance so much!

For more details about either contest, check the contest page.

I hope you have a great Tuesday!