Busy Bee

I stay busy. I like it that way. But lately, whew! It's been insane. I'm on the final countdown for "Charmed & Deadly" it's due in a few days. My anthology for Benbella on the Stephanie Plum series is due the same day. What was I thinking? Everything's done. Final revisions have been made on both projects. Shannon's (http://singedbenefits.blogspot.com/) going through it one last time for me. This time was a little nerve wracking because I didn't have a chance to let anyone see it until last week. I have the world's greats friends. First Andrea took a crack at it, then Rosemary and Britta. They loved it, which helped me to breathe a little easier.

I'm still trying to layer in color for Budapest, the Congo, London, Paris and New York. If you have some ideas or stories about places send them my way.

On Thursday I celebrated my anniversary with my husband. The day started out a little rough (we've been married a really long time) but it ended up magical. We did some shopping, he bought me a lovely gold claddagh ring from James Avery and we had dinner at the Melting Pot, which is a four course fondue place. Totally fun. Then we came back and watched the Maverick's game. Well, he watched. I sat on the couch with my lap top and looked at shoes and vacations to Europe (inspired by Shannon). Friday it was back to work with edits, my columns and the day didn't end until almost one in the morning. I was in front of the computer the whole day.

Saturday, I had to finish getting my son everything he needed for camp, and in between that I taught Fast Draft to the lovely women at the Yellow Rose RWA. They were a great group and it was a lot of fun. If you have a chance to visit them, I highly suggest it. And I finally got Parker off to Nebraska for camp.

So, it's back to work for me. Yes, I know it's 9:37 on a Sunday night, but I spent the afternoon by the pool and must now pay my dues. :-) If I make it through this week, I might just take a few days off. ;-)

Holt Medallion

Wow! Charmed & Dangerous was nominated for a Holt Medallion award! How cool is that? It's in the mainstream/single title category and has some incredible competition. I have to tell you that this kind of recognition for the book is far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I'm so grateful.

I had an amazing weekend in Dallas at the DARA conference. Had a chance to meet Cindy Hwang, one of the editors at Berkley. I can see why her writers love her so much. She's a total delight. Hillary Sares from Kensington was there, and she always makes me laugh. I spent some quality time with my buds Shannon and Rosemary, which is usually my favorite part of these weekends. Oh, and Kathy and Andrew were there from Waldens and brought tons of my books. Those guys have been so supportive of me. I owe them many, many gifts. I feel like a big wuss in a way, because everyone hangs out at the bar. I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, so after about 10 minutes I have to leave. It's a big bummer.

Make sure you visit again a little later in the week. I'll tell you about one of my favorite people in the world. She's an incredible writer, a terrific friend and I've recently discovered she secretly covets my hair scrunchies. ;-) Until next time...

Golden

It's a Golden Day. Charmed & Dangerous is a double finalist in the RITA's. It's been nominated in the Best First Book and Strong Romantic Elements category. For those of you who don't know about the RITAs, they are like the Oscars of the romance industry. I'm beyond excited. I can barely type I'm shaking so bad. Must breathe now. Whew! So do the happy dance with me and let's celebrate!!!! Hugs for everyone today!!!!

Sexy Stuff

Do you read erotic fiction? Have you read it lately? Holy Cow! I recently judged some entries in the Passionate Ink contest. (PI is an RWA chapter that focuses on erotic romance.) I have to tell you, the genre has come a long way in the past few years. Yes, there is still lots of hot, wild sex. Usually beginning on page one, but these novels also have a story. Okay, most of them do. Kensington has a new line, Aphrodisia that is hotter and more sexually explicit than anything I've ever read. Kensington Editor Hilary Sayers sent me some of the books and I really must remember to send her a thank you. (My husband also wants to thank her.) I'm reading "Three" right now and am totally captivated. "Sexy Beast" is an anthology and I have to tell you that the first story in that one was so shocking that I'm still trying to get over it. (In a good way.) I will admit it's a little beyond my comfort zone with the sexuality and the various relationships, but it was most definitely hot. The books come with a warning and you should take heed, but if you dare, you are in for one wild ride. (Um, pun intended.) Must find husband now just talking about the books is making me a little crazy. ;-) If you have some titles you think we should take a look at, please tell us about them.

Andy Warhol Day

It's here! My new Andy Warhol serigraph of the big pink daisy is on the wall right above my desk. It's the one I bought from the Modern. It's beautiful. Bright, cheery and exactly what I wanted. It's 47 by 40 so it takes up most of the wall which is wonderful. If you want to see what it looks like, here's a smaller version: http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=809666549&c=c&search=29184&GCID=s15100x100%2DArtists&KEYWORD=%5BAndy+Warhol+Art%5D
I noticed while I was trying to find a pic for you guys, that they have an Andy Warhol print with monkeys. I think I might have to get that one too.

It's been a really busy week. I've been working stories about Andre Braugher's new show "Thief" on FX. I really like him. Always intelligent and well spoken, and very easy to talk to. Wrote a cover story about Rebecca Romijn's new show Pepper Dennis. And As the World Turns is getting ready to celebrate it's 50th anniversary. That's so amazing when you consider the climate of television these days.

Oh, some movement happened with Zombies and I had to stop working on Charmed & Deadly to clean up that book. I love the story, it's about a girl who has to take care of Zombies. It's a lot of fun very Buffy meets Veronica Mars.

I spent most of last weekend cleaning and organizing my office. I was in total need of some Feng Shui, and it's definitely helped. I hope to spend some more time on the office this weekend hanging the rest of my art (I've done a wall of old hollywood and favorite art I've received over the years.).

Oh, I finally finished "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," by Alexander McCall Smith. It took me a while to get into that story, but I ended up loving it. I've also been reading Lisa Jackson's "Shiver." Wow! What a book. It's been awhile since I've read romantic suspense like that, and I forgot how much I enjoyed it.

So do you have a favorite piece of art or book you are reading? Tell me about it.

Wow!

Well, it only took six months but I finally figured out how to get back here. If you haven't had a chance check out the Witchy Chicks blog. Great group of chicks there. I'm working on several stories this week including two on new shows, Free Ride (Fox) and Conviction (NBC). Free Ride is mostly improv and I love it. Stupid funny, but we all need a little of that in our week.