Thankful

I'm lucky to know not just a lot of fantastic writers, but also talented artists. I received a package on my doorstep earlier this week with a belated wedding gift (or early anniversary gift!).

This is some fantastic collage art by my dear friends, Alease Michelle. If you like what you see here, please visit her website. She does pieces on commission, and has several completed works for sale here.

Brenda Novak's Auction

I am proudly participating in Brenda Novak’s 2009 Online Auction to benefit Diabetes research. Bidding opens on April 30, 2009 and 9:00 p.m. PST. Hundreds of items are up for auction, including many items from your favorite romance authors, agents, and editors! Grand prize, for the person with the most overall bids, is a $1300.00 Hewlett-Packard giant touch-screen computer—completely wireless, you can surf or write anywhere.

My vintage-era auction item is comprised of two autographed books, The Knot, and All in Good Time, a set of red and white vintage stationery, and a brass and ivory vintage jewelry set from 1928. The set includes matching earrings, y-necklace, and bracelet.

If this sounds like something you’d like, please register at the site and put in a bid! Be sure to look through all the available items to find something to suit you, or someone you love. It all goes to a good cause—let’s help Brenda beat last year’s total!

Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is ostensibly about a guy from the slums of India who manages to make his way onto the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." You'd think he might be exceptional for his education or knowledge of random trivia, but no. The story is more richly layered. It turns out that the answer to every single question he's asked refers him back to some painful past memory. It's in this way, through a series of flashbacks, that you learn that he is not exceptional for his brain, but his heart.

The story is really about Jamal, his older brother Salim, and their third "Musketeer", a girl named Latika. Using the answers to the game show questions, it threads the story of how they meet and the paths their lives take, which is not glamorous. Ultimately, you see that Jamal loves Latika, and he will do anything to be with her. In the end, this drives him to try to be on "Millionaire" because he knows she watches the show and he can't reach her any other way.

I wouldn't call it a "feel good" movie (even including the necessary Bollywood dance number as the credits roll), but it does show the strength of the human spirit, and the power of love in the best and worst of situations. I give it an "A".

Now Available in PRINT!

"Bootlegger's Bride" is now available in PRINT! The Wild Rose Press has, in two volumes, put together the entire Legacy of the Celtic Brooch series. Previously available only in e-formats, "Bootlegger's Bride" is Book 4 in Volume 1. Here's the gist:

Buckle your seat-belt. Grace McAfee Currie is on a mission--to make up for lost time, and lost love. Hoping to escape her controlling family and rekindle a romance all at the same time, she sets in motion a chain of events that spiral out of her control. WWI veteran Aidan Palmer is jolted back into life when he reconnects with Grace, the one woman he can't resist. In order to be together, this socialite and would-be preacher must outwit her ambitious brother, out-maneuver competing bootleggers, and drive into an uncertain sunset in an exciting new world.

Available through:
amazon.com
thewildrosepress.com

...and other outlets soon!

Holiday Wishes

HO HO HO! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

My holiday wishes for my friends and family are that you give as you'd like to be given to, reach out to those around you, laugh often, and travel safely over the river and through the woods. May you enjoy peace and love this holiday season.

Making History

Today is election day in the United States. I believe this election will draw more voters to the polls than perhaps the last five or six Presidential elections. Maybe since Reagan. Why? Well, either way it swings, history will be made. We will either have our first female Vice President, or our first Arab/Afraican-American president. If nothing else, this campaign has interested a larger segment of the population. Who knows? It might have inspired the next generation of men and women to consider political office.

I'm waiting to vote until after work. My bonus son (age 8) wants to come with me and see how it all works. So I'll probably leave a little early and it will be an educational experience. He's been asking a lot of questions about politics, and his teacher is doing an excellent job explaining the process. It's interesting how he's made up his own mind about who he would vote for if he could, and why.

I won't explain who I'm voting for and why today, but encourage you all to get out of your seat and find your polling place! It's not too late to make a decision, and you can only complain about the President and other elected officials if you cast a vote. Complacency gets us nowhere!

Nothing in Life is Free

I don't like to debate, and I feel like my political positions are really noneyabizness, kind of like religion, it's a personal decision that I've cultivated over years, studied, and come to decisions on. I don't like a candidate because he's got personality or is attractive or is a female, pro-this or anti-that. I make decisions at the ballot box because I believe certain things politically, economically, and socially.

For those of you who don't know, my husband is Army National Guard, and as of today is on active duty. I helped him pack his bags last night, and this morning I managed to kiss him goodbye without crying (mostly because I was still half asleep and will see him around noon). Getting to this point has been a process, a wandering through anxiety and a wasteland of my own fears, wondering how I'll get through the next year, and asking for the support of family and friends.

When we're out and about, sometimes it comes up that he's leaving, and people always thank him for his service. It can be awkward. Yes, he signed up for it, and yes, he's getting paid for it. And by marrying him, I signed up for it, too. Whether I believe we should be in Iraq is a long, involved historical question, but the bottom line is that we ARE there. The US committed many decades ago to export democracy and capitalism (which are NOT the same thing)--Democrats and Republicans have both done so. The place of our country in the world is at issue, and we could go on and on about being the only superpower and the balance of power and where that's going...

But in the end, none of this is free. We are one of the few developed western countries in which military service is not mandatory for young men. Lots of Americans never consider "joining up" or did so because of the benefits (which I'm finding are complex and loaded with yummy bureaucracy just like everything else). When I go to vote, I always think of the sacrifices people have made for me to be there, from the Founding Fathers all the way down to men like my husband, who defend my choice (our choice?) and work for the people we elect as Commander in Chief whether they voted for them or not. People don't understand the difference between rights and privilege, but that's another rant--I may get to that one later.

Freedom is not free. Ask me on Friday morning, when all I have to look at are his civilian clothes in the closet, the cost of your right to vote for whoever you want. I won't judge you by the party you endorse--do what you want to do, what you feel is right, and I hope you carefully consider the options. That, my friends, is what we've paid for, and continue to pay for.

Downhill Ride

Six chapters until I type "The End" on All Roads, my romance set in ancient Rome. Here's a piece:

**********

A shriek of outrage froze Marcus's thoughts. Straight ahead, the Dacian royal entourage sat on the ground. Surrounded by guards, they waited with blank, passive faces.

Except for one woman, who tried repeatedly to break through the circle of soldiers, only to be bounced back inside.

The raven-haired beauty who had rabidly defended the prince. Even with her gown streaked with dirt and blood, she stood apart from the others. Perhaps he noticed her because she fought with so much passion, rare to see in a royal woman.

She paused for a moment in her efforts when he approached, but knew his language well enough to turn her curses on him. “What will you do with his body, you barbarian dog?”

Glancing to his right, Marcus saw the young prince lying on a cart, his corpse taken in case the king had needed an additional reason to lay down his weapons.

No matter this woman’s interest in the body, Marcus had but one answer to give. “His body will be burned.”

She shook, her face twisted in rage, while the wind whipped her long, dark hair into a cyclone. Her eyes pierced his blank stare to plead with him. She opened her hands and said, “Your way is not our way.”

Everything about this woman seemed dangerous, even the tears she refused to check. She owned her heritage, and despite the way she entreated him, hatred radiated from her like warmth from the sun.

Nothing he could say would console her, so he asked, “What is your name?”

She straightened her spine. “Ademeni, daughter of King Decebalus.”

Her name tripped off her tongue like music, her broken language not lyrical enough to disguise her position. Daughter of the king.

He should have known.

Pushing through the brief shot of pleasure he’d received at the sound of her voice, he returned to his duty.

“Ademeni, daughter of Dacia, I am Marcus Decimas Cordovis, commander of Trajan’s Flavia Felix Legion.” He delivered news that drained the blood from her face, leaving him shaken for the first time in his storied military career. “You are now a slave of Rome, and to Rome you will all go in the morning.”

She stepped forward, daring the guards to force her back while offering a tantalizing whiff of sandalwood. A tight smile sent a chill down his spine.

With white knuckled fingers, she pulled on the collar of her dress, rending the fabric and exposing her neck and the generous swell of her breasts.

“Then you should kill me now, General.” Her dark eyes flashed her passion. “Because if I live, I will not hesitate to kill you.”

Stewie is Honored

Stewie is on Dogster (he has a better social life than me) and was named this week's "Mad Hatter" for the Dog Park group. I'm not sure what that means except he gets to wear this particular ridiculous hat and say things like, "My name is Stew...Beef Stew."

That's Stew on the right...the other Scottie is the moderator of the group. It's all very organized. I'm afraid they could be mobilized to vote for Obama if they are not scattered soon.

By George...

I think I've got it! All the necessary paperwork to change my name with the Social Security Administraton. Which is like changing it with God or something. After that, I can do my driver's license, my job, my checking account, etc. There's a whole ream of paperwork I can't yet do because I'd have to RE-do it after the name change goes through.

My husband has a few day off this week. It's good to have him home, even if it does disrupt the routine Little M and I have established. The Big Job to be done is the fence. Please be aware that this is not for any two-legged member of our family. It's for Stewie. So he can go outside at all hours of the day and night and "do buisiness". I can work a full day and accept lunch invitations rather than coming home to let him out. We can sleep until the alarm because what? Stewie can let himself in and out :)

I have started another vintage story, and I'm working on it as I find time. I have no word target for this one, just going to write it until it's finished. I will need to market it to Wild Rose Press since it is part of the world I've created with The Knot, Bootlegger's Bride, and All in Good Time. In other news, I will also be teaching again, starting in January: Modern History. Very excited!