Hey all, just to let you know, Samantha James is having a big, I mean, huge contest extravaganza to celebrate the release of her new book, The Seduction of an Unknown Lady. Get thyself over there and enter. She’s giving away tons of books, coverflats and some really cool grand prizes nearly every day. Just thought you might like to know, because she’s got some of my coverflats in there and a hardback of one of my books. You’ll have to enter to find out which one.

Oh, and her book comes out today–so make sure you go get … Read more »

Debut author, Jamie Leigh Hansen. Her book, Betrayed, just hit the shelves, and I wanted to let all of you get to know her. I met Jamie years ago and was struck even then by her determination and her bright smile. A few months ago, during a Google search, I ran across her first book, and was thrilled! She kindly gave me an advance copy (which I loved) and now it is her time to shine.

EB: Jamie, you’ve worked a long time to get published–and through some tough health issues–what kept you going and kept you writing?

JLH:… Read more »

Continuing my cinema themed posts this week, I saw this on a Myspace bulletin and thought it was interesting. Supposedly if you’ve seen over 85 movies, you have no life. I beg to differ because I love movies and think they add to life in ways books can’t sometimes. Still, I decided to take the survey and see how I fared. If you want to do it here are the rules:

1)There are 208 movies on this list.
2) Copy this list.
3) Then put an X next to the movies you’ve seen, and add them up.

Have fun!

Here … Read more »

Wrong. To me, December means head to the nearest multiplex because all the good movies are coming out. May/June/July and December are the best months for movie goers, so I always start scanning the holiday movie releases early to see what looks great. A few years back, the DH and I spent the week after Christmas doing nothing but hitting movies–I think we saw Walk the Line, King Kong and two others that I now can’t remember that week. It isn’t the holiday cookies that give me those extra 5-10 pounds we all gain at the holidays, but the … Read more »

So the real countdown happens now as I start making the dishes for Thanksgiving ahead of time. It really helps to get as many things “fixed” before hand so that the BIG day is relatively pain free. Here are two dishes I always make ahead of time, usually on Tuesday:

Fresh Cranberry Relish

2 bags of fresh cranberries
1 clean and blemish free seedless orange
1/2 – 1 cup of sugar
Food grinder

Rinse the cranberries and sort out the mushy ones and the ones that are really white. Grind the berries through the food grinder (I have a attachment … Read more »

And I have Niki Burnham to thank for my newest time sink. Yes, I got tempted by an all-knowing, utterly hip YA author to make a go of MySpace and now I am addicted. It’s like going back to school all over again, but in a healthy way, at least so I hope. I sit down at my computer and think, “Who can I friend now?”. I mean, there’s a whole world of people to meet out there. It’s like Ravelry for the non-knitting set. (Okay, if you are a non-knitter that reference just went right over your head. But … Read more »

Gads. I’ve been terrible about getting something together about the weekend–perhaps its because I’m still trying to get caught up after a whirlwind month of social engagements. My husband was a tad grumpy the other day and I asked him what had his boxers in a knot (okay, perhaps that wasn’t the most gracious way to ask and by way of marital harmony, I could have phrased it a little better) and his reply was: “Well, you’ve been gone. Like the entire month. And I’ve had to deal with the kids and every thing.” Do you see the hands up … Read more »

is The Big Bang Theory on CBS. If you haven’t seen this new show yet, please sit down, give it 30 minutes and discover how funny a sitcom can be. This show is hilarious. The story of two highly intelligent geeks who get a new neighbor in the form of a pretty but not overly bright girl named Penny. Penny rattles their regulated, Romulan loving, cyber social world and it is this meeting of Beauty and the Geeks that has me laughing for the rest of the week.

Now first I must confess that many years ago I was in … Read more »

I’ve been to quite a few conferences in my time and this past weekend at the NJ Romance Writers Put Your Heart in a Book conference, I was really, really impressed. This is a great conference. And I don’t say that lightly. This is a great conference. It would be worth skipping National to attend, because it has the added bonus of being right beside you know where. (Read my last blog if that makes no sense).

One of the great things was catching up with two of my favorite Avon friends, Julia Quinn, Kathryn Smith. Here they … Read more »

By the time this posts, I’ll be in NYC and then off to the New Jersey Romance Writers, Put Your Heart in a Book Conference. I’m speaking Saturday afternoon on How to Write a Synopsis. I’ll warn anyone who is thinking of coming to my workshop, I intend to put new emphasis on the word “work” in workshop. Come prepared to work. Hard.

Julia Quinn is coming to the conference and we were joking the other day that while we live in the same town, we only really get to see each other when we leave Seattle to … Read more »