Contest winner

Forgive me for not announcing the winner of my November contest. Oops! Time kind of got away from me with the hubby being out of town and the kids, and my daughter coming down with strep. I know, excuses, excuses. Whaddaya do? :blahblah:

Congratulations to Judy Theis! She won a copy of The Bride Hunt by the very talented Margo Maguire and some holiday chocolates. Way to go!

I’ve been enjoying Nora Roberts’ Goddess Circle Trilogy lately. Since book one is partially set in 12th century Ireland, the same location as Her Irish Warrior, I jumped at the chance to read it. I have to hand it to Nora. She’s a great storyteller, even if the historical accuracy sometimes slips. I think that’s true of most books. If you love the stories and the characters, you can cut them a little literary slack. I think one of the most challenging parts of writing a historical romance is making sure you cover all the research bases. Clothing, food, and shelter are just the tip of the iceberg. And sometimes, no matter how much research you do, you miss something. I think that’s my worst fear–of overlooking some historical fact. I swear, I’ve read about every book I can get my hands on. But even some of the experts admit that with oral history being what it is, sometimes there are gaps. You can only do the best you can and hope that you haven’t missed anything too major.

What’s the worst history blooper you’ve ever read in a book? Or have you been pretty lucky in that regard?

Overplayed Christmas Songs and pre-ordering

There are great reasons to celebrate December 6th! My book is available for pre-order. Okay, really, people, humor me. My husband still thinks I’m a fruitcake for religiously checking Amazon to make sure I wasn’t dreaming that my book is for sale.

I resisted the urge to pre-order 400 copies. That’s good, isn’t it? (And, no, I did NOT order 399 copies. Shut up. I’ll tell you later how many copies I pre-ordered. Oh wait. My husband reads this blog. Really, honey, I was strong! I resisted the urge. Mostly. :banana:)

The children are nestled, all snug in their beds. No, I did not drug them. They wore themselves out arguing, fighting, whining about why their mother is a horrible person for not allowing them to have candy for supper. “But Mommy, Dad’s not home! We should have special treats for supper!”

And letting them have full access to a sugar-induced high is good because…..???

Right then. Back to our topic. I was listening to Christmas songs today and I was bemoaning the fact that they overplay so many of the same tunes. Really. There are a few songs that make me want to run screaming to change the radio station. So here are my Top 5 most Overplayed Christmas Songs and my Top 5 Fun Christmas songs.

Quick! Change the Channel Songs
1. “Feed the World/Do They Know it’s Christmas” (or whatever the true name of this song is–the Ethiopia Benefit concert song)–Okay, I’m just sick of George Michael. It’s a good song to hear…once in a while. Not every hour. Not every three songs. I feel the urge to drive ice picks into my eyeballs when I hear it.
2. “Blue Christmas” by Elvis Presley (Too much of the King)
3. “Christmas Shoes” (It’s too sad. I start bawling about the little boy whose mother is dying and he doesn’t have enough money to buy her a pair of pretty shoes when she goes off to meet Jesus. Christmas is a happy season! No death. No dying. None of that! Click.)
4. “Merry Christmas, Darling” by the Carpenters (Good song, just too much of it!)
5. “Feliz Navidad” (It gets stuck in my head all day!)

Christmas Songs I Like
1. Gabriel’s Message by Sting (I don’t hear it enough. It’s just a cool song. Kind of medieval in flavor. And of course, it’s Sting!)
2. Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire (it makes me laugh–and it’s sick. Sorry, Larissa.)
3. “Dominick the Donkey”–It’s such a goofy song.
4. O Holy Night (It’s my favorite song, when sung properly)
5. Do You Hear What I Hear (Bing Crosby)
6. The Christmas Song (the proper version, by Mel Torme)
7. The Little Drummer Boy
8. The Grinch song

How about you? What Christmas songs do you loathe and despise? Which ones do you love?

When the husband’s away…

…the children will drive their mother insane.

Personally, I think business travel is fun for the traveler, not the one left behind. If I could be in Manhattan right now, strolling around Times Square and dining out in new restaurants, I would be having the time of my life.

Instead, I’m trying to keep the children from killing each other.

It all started off with a Change in the Morning Routine. Because, I’m not normally the person who drops off the kids at daycare; it’s my husband. This is a good thing because they know Dad will not respond to tears, pleas, or threats. He just hugs them goodbye, and he’s off. So dropping off the kids isn’t a big deal. Usually, they wave, smile, and go back to playing with their friends.

Today, however, my daughter decided to be a Drama Queen. How DARE I leave her? How could I even THINK of going to work? As soon as I began to leave, she attached herself to my knees and started the Pitiful Sobbing ™. When that didn’t work, she threw herself on the ground and did the full body tantrum. My son stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. The parting memory was of my daughter’s face, pressed up against the Plexiglass door, sobbing her heart out. Meryl Streep would have been proud. There could have been a little more subtlety to the tears, but in general, it was Oscar-worthy.

Of course, when I picked her up, she chirped, “Hi, Mommy! I making the Play Dough!” (The verb ‘to be’ is still optional)

While going to the grocery store, it was a case of my son taunting her. “Santa Claus thinks I’m being a good boy. You aren’t a good girl. He’s not going to bring you anything.”
Daughter breaks into more crying: “I want Santa Claus to come!”

Glass. Of. Wine. Need it now.

My book is listed on Amazon!

I am so excited!

My book is now listed on Amazon! Check this out!

You know, it’s funny what little things make it all real. The first was the Call. The second was the line edits. Then came signing the contract. But seeing it listed for people to actually BUY makes it more real than anything else.

Okay, so my sales ranking is dead last because you can’t actually order it yet. And I don’t have my cover yet or my blurb. But still. It’s there.

This is just so amazing. I was dancing upstairs with my kids (who of course think their mother is insane). Woo hoo!

Rooting for the underdog–UCLA beats USC

I’m not much of a sports fan, but I must say, I really enjoyed the UCLA vs. USC game last night. There’s something about watching an underdog come from behind to win that just makes for a great story. UCLA was a team with several losses, but when they played my team (Notre Dame), I saw a lot of fire and heart in them. We barely managed to beat them. So when I saw that they were up against USC this weekend, a team that everyone predicted would go for the national championship, I was hoping that they would pull off the win.

They did. I felt like I was watching a sports movie where the underdogs get beaten down time and again and finally they beat the champions. In the final minutes of the game, they managed to catch an interception and hang onto the ball long enough to take down the clock. Then when they couldn’t get a first down and were forced to punt, the kicker nailed the bejeezus out of the ball for 67 yards. In less than a minute, UCLA won.

You could see twenty-year-old men crying because they had pulled off a David and Goliath moment. It was truly something to see.

I really enjoy watching sports movies. I’m a big Karate Kid fan, along with Hoosiers and how could we forget “Rudy?” As an aside, both my husband and I are in that movie. They shot the football scene during one of the winter games at Notre Dame in the fall of 1992. The producers had us chanting “Rudy, Rudy.” If you squint, you can probably see me in the student section. I’m pretty sure it was snowing during that game and we were all bundled up. Then again, any game in October, you’ll see snow.

What’s your favorite sports movie?

Book Trailers

I’ve been seeing more and more hype about book trailers, and I wondered if anyone has thoughts about them. Circle of Seven Productions has quite a few.
Here’s one that has a mix of stills and live video.

Then Christine Feehan has the higher budget ones.

Alesia Holliday has a new series she’s launching soon.

What are your thoughts on book trailers? For me, it’s all about the music. If the music is great, then it seems to come together. I’m not a fan of sound effects like horses’ hooves or men screaming in battle. I once saw a historical author’s website where a knight in shining armor came clippety-clop across the screen, and I started laughing. It was too Monty-Pythonish for me. I’m sure it was meant to come off as a heroic, sexy man, but I kept waiting for him to mutter comments like, “We are the knights who say Ni!”

Anyway, what trailers did you like? Which ones were cheesy?