Archive for November 2006 – Page 2
Categories : Lucy Monroe
Categories : Lucy Monroe
In our house, we have certain little things we do to get ready for the holidays. 
It starts with Halloween, when we put up the pumpkin flag and hang up various “Trick or Treat” type signs.
Then November 1st, the pumpkin flag comes down and the turkey flag goes up. Harvest-type decorations come out. Not many, just a couple. Inside the house, the regular white plates get put away and the apple plates come out. (I have several sets of place settings, because my mom is always buying them for me)
December 1st, the turkey flag comes down and the Peanuts gang Santa flag comes out. Wreaths, red bows, and white lights decorate the outside. Inside, various pine decorations and candles come out. We have a fake tree (I know that horrifies some *g*), so we need to create the smell of Christmas some other way. The apple plates get put away for another year, and the poinsettia plates come out. We use them all month long, not just on Christmas day, because that seems like such a waste to use a place setting only one day a year. (though I do have some settings that sit in the china cabinet and never get used at all.)
January 2nd, everything gets taken down and put away. (and I’m usually glad to see it all go at that point, despite how excited I was to pull it all out just weeks before.)
How do you get ready for the holidays? 
Comments (8)
Categories : Sylvia Day
Tags : Sylvia Day
By Jennifer Apodaca · Comments (16)
Monday,
November
13th,
2006
The first romance novel I remember reading was SWEET SAVAGE LOVE by Rosemary Rogers. My sister gave the book to me when I was fourteen. Totally inappropriate for that age, and of course I was hooked. I cut my teeth reading Nancy Drew and the various dog books like BIG RED and OID YELLER, but it wasn’t until my sister loaned me SWEET SAVAGE LOVE that I became addicted to reading.
Clearly all that romance reading corrupted me. Let me count the ways:
1) I’ve been happily married for 24 years.
2) I’ve never been arrested.
3) I haven’t appeared in any adult type films (that I know of!).
4) I stunned the heck out of my high school English teachers when I scored really high on those annoying tests in reading comprehension and critical thinking.
5) I read across all genres.
6) I read Harry Potter ONLY because it was being banned all over the place, and I LOVED IT.
7) I write books with—gasp—sex scenes.
Okay perhaps I’m more boring than morally bankrupt! What about you all? What was the first romance novel you read?
Comments (16)
Categories : Jennifer Apodaca
So, I’m a sports fan. Okay, let me rephrase that. I’m a total jock chick. And November is the Trifecta for me. First I get football (NFL and college.) NBA Basketball is back. AND it’s time for the year-end Masters Tennis tournament for all the marbles. Really, other than March Madness, it doesn’t get better than this for a sports chick.
But that got me to thinking…for a long time, publishers told us author types that sports heroes simply didn’t sell. They guessed women just didn’t dig jocks. I never got this. Are you kidding? What’s not to love? In fact, my very first book was about a football player (because I hadn’t heard “the jock rule” back then and my publisher took pity on the poor newbie…but, since then, the jock rule has stuck, any sports related character of mine has been a former, not current, athlete.
Then along came Susan Elizabeth Phillips and her football guys, and Deirdre Martin with her hockey hunks, and now there’s a whole string of NASCAR heroes…suddenly, athletes aren’t taboo any longer. Yay!
Lucky me, I can finally merge two of my loves together into one. What could be better?
So…tell me, who is your favorite jock hero? And what kind of sports hunk would you love to see get his own story?
Comments (10)
Categories : Donna Kauffman
Why do villains come out at holidays?
This past week in my neighborhood, the Halloween decorations came down and the Thanksgiving or Christmas/Hanukah decorations went up.
And so it seems did a few bad attitudes.
At the soccer game, the coach yelled at his team, (I mean really yelled) the father sitting a bleacher down from me kept yelling at the referee, and two others were yelling at each other. Hardly festive or good sportsmanship.
The man at the gas station was so nasty when I asked him to change a fuse in my dashboard, that I told him to forget it and drove down the street to another station where I’ll be buying gas from now on.
The guy at the car dealership didn’t return my call because he knew he was going to have to replace a part.
Now this isn’t really about people who were mean last week, but got me to wondering why they converged just as I was feeling all turkey and mistletoe.
I have two handy ways of dealing with real life villains. 1. I write them down on an index card and file them away for later use. Or 2. (And I love this one.) I pull up a new document, type “Nasty man at the gas station” then push the delete button. (Very satisfying and it isn’t illegal.)
So as soon as I finished deleting the gas station attendant, I got to thinking about holiday villains and how unlike real life villains our story villains can be, thank goodness. In fiction we can imagine them however we want. From the worst to the most lovable and redeemable. Especially when they’re holiday villains.
Take the Grinch. What a great character. And don’t you love the song? “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.”?
And my favorite, Ebenezer Scrooge a la Dickens. I read the story every year. And watch the Alistair Sim movie every Christmas Eve when everyone else has gone to bed and I’m wrapping presents. And the Muppet version? Can’t get enough of it.
And think of all the spin off scrooge type films and television specials.
I guess the nice thing about lovable villains is that they were miscast as villains in the first place and really only need understanding, a miracle, love or a ghost or two to make them what they should really be.
I like a villain to have at least a seed of goodness and I like to read and write stories where the bad guy might someday become the good guy if he ever gets his own book.
Does anyone else have a favorite villain?
Comments (4)
Categories : Gemma Bruce
I love bookstores. Who here doesn’t? If I find myself with unexpected free time, I’m there, wandering the nicely hushed store, paging through books by new authors, running my finger over all the lovely spines, and usually wishing I had much more money to spend. And so many bookstores are so thoughtful now! With cafes right inside, and the chance to relax and explore a new book with a nice big hot tea and a decadent muffin, bookstores are definitely one of my favorite places on earth.
But libraries were my first love. As a kid, they were the places where the books lived, and I visited our public library as often as I could. It was nothing special, architecturally—just a big old brick building dating back to the forties, with two floors and a large separate room for the children’s books. There was nothing particularly interesting or helpful about the layout or the events they hosted, either—it was simply your basic library, complete with those plain and sturdy oak library tables and chairs for study, a water fountain on each floor, and plenty of signs admonishing one and all to be quiet and respectful of others.
I adored it. I knew the children’s section backwards and forwards, and kept a mental tally of when “my” books had been checked out by others. I discovered books my mother had read, books that weren’t available in the bookstores in the 1970s—the Beany Malone novels, the Cherry Ames mysteries. I read about an Amish girl and a girl who woke up to find she was a princess in a castle two hundred years before her time. And then I wandered into the adult stacks. So many more books! It was overwhelming, in the most delicious way. My little paper library card was dog-eared and threadbare with use.
I still love libraries. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always buy books (usually way too many, if the size of my to-be-read stack is any indication), but there’s something really wonderful about finding out-of-print books in the library, authors who no longer warrant shelf space in the stores. And you get to read them for free! (Well, if you remember to return them on time, at least.)
So, to celebrate libraries, I give you library porn. Make sure you scroll all the way down to my favorite, the Trinity College Library in Dublin. And then tell me about your favorite library!
Comments (7)
Categories : Amy Garvey
I’m trying to write a blog after spending the day moving my college-aged son into an upstairs apartment. College-aged son has a broken ankle which makes the whole move really, really challenging. Let’s not even talk about the weeks of stress building up to it mostly due to the broken ankle. The first doctor told us the ankle was only sprained and we absolutely did not need an x-ray, and that my son should start walking on the ankle as soon as possible.
Fast forward nearly two weeks later where the orthopedic doctor is NOT HAPPY that he was walking around on a broken ankle. (Hmm, I’m thinking I might still be a little peeved—my son is fine, time for me to move on!)
I am taking a class on Public Relations class, and as part of the homework, I bought some magazines and started paying more attention to pop culture again. I thumbed through some women’s magazines and here’s what I noticed…they are selling us a load of crap. Instant weight loss in various forms, creams that will remove 10 years—all the LIES we see everyday in magazines, on TV and all around us. This is one of my daily annoyances—that advertisers can lie and get away with it.
Uh, and people call romance novels unrealistic? Romance novels promise love and a happy ending in a book, and we call it FICTION. No one is lying and promising a happily ever after in real life. Any one else see the irony here or am I really overtired?
And by the way, I’ve had enough reality for one day—I’m off to read!
Comments (4)
Categories : Jennifer Apodaca
The other day I was reading a story by my gal pal, Vivi Anna, and I really liked the heroine. I liked her. Wanted to be friends with her. She was tough as nails, brash, and headstrong, but she was also bright and sympathetic. In my mind, she was a perfect kick-ass heroine.
They’re a hard breed to peg. Something’s got to give, and it’s often the hero. Writing about the type of hero who can compliment a kick-ass heroine without making him either a jerk or a pushover is definitely not easy. My favorite compliment to the KAH is the affable, yet alpha male. When she’s prickly, he’s charming and when she reveals her softer side, he holds her up with faultless strength.
Who’s your favorite KAH? Do you have one? Or do you prefer another heroine altogether?
Comments (10)
Categories : Sylvia Day
Tags : Sylvia Day
The sugar highs might last a while, but for the most part, Halloween is behind us. On my street, one of my neighbors already exchanged her elaborate Halloween decorations for a giant, inflatable turkey that’s sitting in the middle of her front yard, reminding us that another holiday will soon be upon us.
There is just so much about this time of year that I love.
Baking. In my neighborhood, we do the coolest thing. A cookie exchange! A couple of days before Christmas the ladies in my “hood” get together and exchange cookies. So each year I try to find new, fun holiday cookie recipes to share with my friends. Since our kids are grown and live far away, our cookie exchange gives me an excuse to get in the kitchen and do some serious holiday baking. It’s an activity I look forward to all year.
Shopping! My friends don’t call me the Shopping Goddess for nuttin’, ya know. (Btw, there are only 54 shopping days left – get those lists ready!) There’s just something about it that I love, getting all bundled up and hitting the stores in that mad search to find the perfect gift for all the special someones in my life. Especially for all those grand young ‘uns in our clan.
The decorations. The gathering of friends and family. I love every bit of the craziness surrounding the holidays. And for me it all starts on November 1st. I begin by planning the Thanksgiving meal and the Christmas Eve meal, perfecting each until I’m satisfied. This process can take days. Then the baking begins. I try to do a little bit every couple of days – most cookies and breads freeze quite well. 
The DH is given a list of what items he has to bring down from the attic for decorating- and is given sufficient time so he can complain and grumble as is his tradition. And the cleaning. My mother-in-law’s silver needs to be polished, the crystal stemware and the antique china I’ve been collecting needs to be washed and readied. The table cloths and napkins need laundered. And the dust bunnies and cob webs need to be chased away.
This is the time of year I begin to think about all the things for which I give thanks. Naturally, all the big stuff. The continued good health of my family and friends. My cat. My dog. A warm, dry place to lay my head, the DH, my sons, my grandbabies and all the special people in my life. Two incredible editors and an agent who walks on water. Deadlines. Great covers.
But what about the little things? The things that just make our lives that much easier? And I do mean the little things, too. Here’s my top ten list:
1. Prepackaged grated/shredded cheese
2. Caller ID
3. A good wool blazer
4. A comfortable bra
5. Panties that don’t ride up
6. Pink fuzzy slippers
7. Circular knitting needles
8. Flavored creamer for my coffee
9. Non stick cooking spray
10. Self cleaning litter boxes
What about you? What little things are you thankful for?
Comments (15)
Categories : Jamie Denton
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