So, the synopsis is done and in the hands of my crit group. Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem quite complete. I think I left out a few things, but as I read it, I don't know what. Maybe my crit group will figure it out.

It's overcast here today, but not snowing. I suppose there's a bright side to everything. You just have to find it. *grin*

So, this past weekend I made some overdue bibs for one of the new babies in my congregation. I needed to get them done before this week started. For some reason, I never want to get started working on bibs, but once I do, I don't want to stop. I can't be alone in this, but I often wonder why it is. Maybe it's just my nasty procrastination habit kicking in. At any rate, they were really nice once I finished them - especially the two I made from two new patterns I bought. I should have taken a picture, but didn't think of it. Sorry.

Sunday was a relaxing day. With the synopsis finished, I opened my newest WIP to work on, but found my Muse had taken the day off. Maybe later this week I'll be able to start up again. So, instead I picked up A Highlander's Destiny by Melissa Mayhue. If you haven't read any of her Daughters of the Glen series, you're missing out. I ended up just letting the Youth Group play games last night so I could read. Then, I had to make myself put it down and go to bed and, worst of all, I had to make myself leave it at home today. I know that if I'd brought it to work, I would be reading it instead of working. I have NO willpower when I'm reading a book that I'm really into. So, I WILL finish it tonight. Next up: A Highlander's Homecoming.

I hope everyone else is having a good day and will have a great week.

Labels: Chit-chat, Melissa Mayhue, Synopsis for The Scarred Heir, weekend

Well, it's snowing - AGAIN!! When I woke up this morning the hubby said, "It's raining out, so it shouldn't be too bad driving." WRONG!! By the time I was ready to leave for work, went out into the garage, hit the button for the garage door - it opened on Winter Wonderland. Of course, I had to go back inside and let the hubby know he was WRONG!! He came out to stand in the doorway. "CRAP!!" was his only comment.

In acknowledgment to Mother Nature, however, she can't seem to make up her mind today. Six blocks from home it wasn't snowing at all. Another six blocks later it was raining. And, shortly before I arrived at my workplace, it was snowing again. As I look out my window - it is still snowing but the snow is melting as it hits the roads, leaving them just wet.

So, I'm knee deep in writing a synopsis for The Scarred Heir. Have I told you I hate writing synopses? I'm sure I have. It's the bane of my writing life. I love writing the book - and can even write a decent back cover blurb. But the synopsis and I have this stereotypical love-hate relationship that I can't break through. *sigh* At any rate, I will get this synopsis done and ready for subbing by the end of this week, because starting next week all bets are off when it comes to free time until mid-March.

Once I get it done, and hone the blurb a little more, I'll post the blurb for comment. Until then, have a great Tuesday and I hope it's warm where you are.

Labels: Blurb, Mother Nature, Snowing, Synopsis, The Scarred Heir, Tuesday

Today my guest is Diane Craver, author of Marrying Mallory. Don't forget to check out the blurb and excerpt at the end. And now. . .



After reading many romances, I decided it was important to have a character with a physical defect, such as a large nose. Of course, not all heroines in romances are flawless beauties, but usually the main female characters have smaller noses. I decided that Mallory would not have a perfect nose. After her marriage ended, she would then decide it was time to do something for herself.

Mallory is a realistic character because I used my personal feelings in writing what she desired. I got into her mind completely because I know what it's like not to have a cute, small nose.

In 2005, my high school daughter and I went to see a plastic surgeon. We both wanted to have rhinoplasty surgery. Just like in my book, Marrying Mallory, the doctor did computer imaging of our noses. I loved the pictures showing how my nose would look shorter after surgery. He also added what my profile would look like with a chin implant, which definitely was an improvement. The doctor also showed us how he would narrow my daughter's wide nose. A year later, after much thought and prayer, I decided to go ahead and pay for my daughter to have nose surgery before she left for college. I knew it would immensely help her self-esteem. Of course, I wanted surgery, too, but decided the expense was too much for both of us to have it done. Geez, I was hoping the surgeon would give us a two for one price. I don't regret it at all, because my daughter was so much happier about her appearance after surgery.

My large nose hasn't kept me from enjoying life. I've been happily married for thirty-four years to the same great guy and we've been blessed with six children. But I'll admit if I had extra money to spend on my appearance, I'd still love to have rhinoplasty.

For Readers: Is there anything you would like to change about your appearance? Have you considered plastic surgery?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marrying Mallory
Now available from Desert Breeze Publishing

Blurb:

Is Mallory Harrington jinxed because her name means luckless? Things have gone wrong for Mallory since she was a small child. All she ever wanted was to have a complete family and live happily ever after. It appears she has it all when she marries Toby Harrington and they have a son. Unfortunately, their marriage ends when Toby has an affair with his law partner. After their divorce, Mallory feels guilt that she couldn't forgive Toby for his affair. As a Christian, she should be able to forgive him for his sin.

Mallory decides to do something for herself, and get a surgical procedure that she's always wanted. What she doesn't expect is her instant attraction to her surgeon.

Sometimes faith is about accepting what can’t be changed and grabbing what God offers her. Life must go on.


Excerpt:

Her luck was about to change. Mallory Harrington could feel it in her bones. In the past, she’d felt cursed at times. Too many things had gone wrong in her thirty-two years of life. It’d started when her father left. He never even said good-bye, but at age five she knew he wasn’t coming back. He hated living in Findlay, Ohio. They couldn’t go with him because her mother refused to leave Grandma.

As a seventh grader, Mallory climbed a tree to get a football for the little neighbor boy. After dislodging it from a high limb, she tossed the ball to him. Mallory started her long climb down, but slipped before reaching the ground. A barbed wire fence ripped her cheek during the fall. The jagged opening required thirty stitches.

Then she was robbed of being valedictorian because a few weeks ahead of graduation, another student’s grades were a little higher. She’d counted on receiving a full academic scholarship to college.

When she married Toby Harrington, she finally felt blessed. Doubly blessed when she gave birth to their son, Joshua. But her happiness ended the night Toby asked for a divorce.

All she ever wanted was to have a complete family and live happily ever after. Was she jinxed? The name Mallory meant luckless. If her mother had realized the meaning of her name, would it have made a difference? Would she still have named her Mallory?

Don’t be silly. My name didn’t cause my marriage to end. I’ll get what I want in my life. I’ve already accomplished the first challenge. I can’t wait to share my good news with Elizabeth and Heather. She prayed, Thank you, Lord, for my friends, Elizabeth Wright and Heather Richards. They are a constant in my life, just like You.

She glanced at her kitchen clock to see if it was time to meet them and felt a surge of excitement because she saw it was. She couldn’t wait to share her important news. Five-year-old Josh was at Toby’s so she was free to go to dinner with her friends. She was glad they’d decided on the Olive Garden restaurant which was within minutes of her house.

Before leaving, she grabbed the paper by the computer. She stared for a minute at the attractive man with black hair. I’m glad I printed his bio and photo to show Heather and Elizabeth. As Mallory held the paper for a minute, she realized that this man would change her life…if she went ahead with the plan. After folding and shoving it in her purse, she headed out, anxious to leave to give her incredible news in person.

Visit Diane on the Web.

Labels: Desert Breeze Publishing, Diane Craver, Marrying Mallory, Plastic surgery, Rhinoplasty

Today is your last day to get Gypsy Legacy: The Marquis FREE for Kindle. If you have a Kindle or have downloaded the Kindle application for PC or iPhone, get yourself online and get it TODAY. Tomorrow will be too late.

Click on the cover and go and get yours now. Tomorrow it will be back to full price.

Labels: Kindle Freebie, Last day, The Marquis

So, I didn't get out here yesterday because I was celebrating another year on this planet. It was a pretty good year and having most of my family around me made it even better. I'm missing the child in grad school, but life does go on and she did call me yesterday. We had a wonderfully long talk. Birthdays that fall on weekends are the best - you don't have to get up unless you actually WANT to. Those are the best kind of days. Unfortunately, I had to get up yesterday and actually get dressed because I had errands to run.

In other news, The Marquis is getting nice reviews and I'm glad so many of you have read it and are looking forward to Edward's story. I hope to have news about it before long.

On another front, as you know I also write Inspirational Romances, too, but the publisher for them has closed their doors, so I have them back. I'm trying to decide what to do with them because I have an idea for a third one that would tie into the first two, but it's still all in my head. One of these days - after I finish all the historicals I'm in the middle of.

A friend and fellow author, Diane Craver, will be appearing here soon to talk about her recently released Inspirational romance, Marrying Mallory. I hope you will enjoy her appearance and check out her book. It's on my to-buy list, so I will be getting it soon.

I'm almost through editing The Scarred Heir and hope it will be sitting in an editor's inbox before the end of the month (and, therefore, off my desk).

It's been very cold here lately, but not nearly as cold as the midwest has been. We are hovering in the 20s and 30s, but friends in Texas aren't used to temperatures like that and so are complaining bitterly (pun intended) about the cold. Wherever you are, I hope you are weathering this winter well.

So, I'm off to church to spend the next 2 1/2 hours with teenagers. I love leading the Youth Group, but some days I do wish I could spend more time writing. It seems that weekends don't give you enough time these days. Maybe we should all have three day weekends.

Labels: Chit-chat, Diane Craver, Marrying Mallory, The Marquis, The Scarred Heir

It's live: Gypsy Legacy: The Marquis

Happy New Year

Labels: Amazon, Kindle Freebie, The Marquis

I didn't make it out here to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but since I'm still up, I thought I would at least post on the first day of the year. At the rate I post, that might mean that the next one may roll around sometime in mid-February.

Regardless, I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season - whatever you celebrate. December was a bit of a roller coaster for me because I was "on vacation" so much. First there was the trip to Germany. I returned to work on December 14th. A week and a half later it was Christmas Eve and I was off again and I didn't return to work until yesterday, December 31. So, all in all, in December I worked a total of 9 days! Gee, I could get used to a schedule like that.

Unfortunately, it won't happen any time soon. Starting Monday it's back to 40 hour weeks. *Sigh*

I did get some writing accomplished. Not as much as I wanted, but more than I thought I would. So, there are trade-offs. At any rate, I hope to get out here more often this year (how many times have you heard that one?).

I do have some good news - I finally sent off Edward's story to my editor at Samhain. She's busy these days so I don't expect to hear anything for at least a month, but at least it's not still waiting for me to edit it. I'm still working through the other manuscript that was requested over a year ago, but it should be ready to go, soon, too.

And, lastly, do you have a Kindle? Or do you have a Kindle App on your iPhone, or your computer? If you do, I have a deal for you. Starting today (and for the next two weeks) my first Gypsy Legacy book, The Marquis, will be FREE!! As part of the Kindle freebie program, the Kindle version of the book will be free until January 14. Of course, I just checked and it's not marked down just yet, so as soon as it is, I'll post the link. If you haven't gotten your copy yet, here's your chance.

Happy Reading!

Labels: 2010, Family Scandals, Gypsy Legacy Series, Happy New Year, Kindle Freebie, The Marquis