September 30, 2008

You Be The First …

… to see the cover of my next book, Wild, coming out in January, 2009. Here it is, in all its glory!

The Avon cover artists totally nailed the hero and heroine of Wild. They conveyed a true sense of the characters as well as the tone of the book. I’m so pleased!

The hero is Anthony Maddox, Earl of Sutton, who was lost on safari in Africa as a child, twenty-two years before the start of my story. When he is brought to his grandmother in England, he has no interest in staying. He doesn’t care about the title he inherited from his father, or the wealth he will have if the House of Lords recognizes him as the true heir. He is acclimated to the Congo. His valley is as close to perfect as any place on earth can be, and he wants to return to his life there. Besides, being abandoned by his father in Africa was enough to make him wary of English society. He cannot trust that he won’t be abandoned and betrayed again by those who claim to care about him.

Grace Hawthorne is the proper young woman who is companion to the dowager countess of Sutton, Anthony’s grandmother. Grace is straight-laced and rigid, and cool propriety has gotten her through some very tough times in her life. As Grace is being courted by a wealthy and proper landowner nearby, Lady Sutton shakes her world by giving her the task of tutoring her grandson. Grace’s assignment is to make him ready to appear before the House of Lords in order to claim his title - a title he doesn’t really want. He is a huge challenge to Grace and everything she believes in, refusing to allow her to let fear rule her life. And if Grace can overcome her own fears, she might also be able to teach Anthony how to trust again.

September 29, 2008

A Jaunty Get-Together

So many new Jaunties have joined us recently, that we decided to get together and chat about some crazy things … Probably a few things you never knew about us. Read on, then give us some insight into your personality!

If you could have only one color in the world, what would it be?
Shana: Purple–the color of royalty.
Margo: Dark red. It goes with everything, especially diamond jewelry.
Robyn: Green, it’s been my favorite color since I was a little girl, there are so many shades and it’s just so relaxing and earthy.
Cindy: Sky blue
Kristan: Royal blue. It’s so rich and lovely.
Delilah: Soft powder blue.  The same color as the walls often seen during the Georgian period.  Something about that color takes my breath away and makes me feel all dreamy.
Emily: Purple. A long time ago, my English teacher said that if you liked purple it meant you had a good imagination. I decided then that I loved purple. It must have stuck, because all these years later, I still love it.
Shirley: Purple - not only the color of royalty, but it’s flattering on us peasants, too.

What place on earth would you most like to visit, and why?
Margo: Greece. I would love to study the history of the place and read Heroditus again, then go there and spend a couple of months visiting all the important sites. Or maybe just lie on the beach with a good book..
Kristan: Venice. I love the architecture, the canals, the Italian men, the fabulous women! And of course, the food…
Shana: I’d like to visit Gretna Green. It’s featured in two of my books, and while I’ve been to Scotland, I’ve never been to Gretna.
Emily: I love to travel to exotic, tropical places like Costa Rica and Belize. I love the tower trees in old growth rain forests, the way life is so interconnected there. It reinforces my sense of awe.
Shirley: I’d love to go on a Tall Ship cruise in the Caribbean, salmon fishing in Alaska, explore Australia’s outback, and spend a decade or so researching in England, with a detour to Wales.
Robyn: Wow, there are so many places I want to go. I’ve traveled some, but not nearly as much as I’d like. I want to go back to England and while there hit Scotland and maybe Wales. I’d love to go to Iceland, it just looks breathtaking there. I’ve always wanted to just go and tour all over Europe. Africa sounds so adventurous and I’d like to think I would go, but it might take me a while to conjure up the courage and then there’s Australia and Hawaii and Alaska and back to the Caribbean….sigh, I love to travel.
Cindy: I’d love to go to the Netherlands.  My father was born there but I’ve never been there.
Delilah: Egypt.  So that I could roam through the pyramids and touch things older than I am allowed to write about.

If you could be any character in history, who would it be?
Kristan: Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. Now there’s a good kid!
Cindy: I’d like to meet Eleanor Roosevelt.  She lived such an interesting life.  And I’d like to meet Mary Pickford (who formed United Artists) because she was a savvy businesswoman who stood up for herself.
Delilah: Queen Elizabeth I.  Something about ruling over men utterly fascinates me. 
Emily: I don’t know that there’s anyone in particular I’d like to be in history. Just someone who lived a long life, didn’t die in childbirth and didn’t lose her whole family to the plague.
Margo: Daniel Boone. Or maybe I’d just like to be his concubine.
Shana: Maybe one of Jesus’ disciples. I would have loved to see the world at that time.
Robyn: I don’t know that I’d want to BE anyone from history, but there are plenty of people from history I’d want to meet. Jane Austen, Cleopatra, Patsy Cline…
Shirley: Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci… Hmm, I’m noticing a trend.  Maybe I need a vacation?  I’d like to meet Margaret Sanger, to thank her for giving women information that enabled them to have some measure of control over their lives that male doctors denied us for so long.

If you believed in reincarnation, what do you think would have been one of your past lives?
Delilah:  A nun in France.  And now I am making up for it.
Margo: LOL, Delilah! I think I would have been a pioneer. We still have the same old farmhouse my great-grandfather built in the 1890s and I feel right at home there.
Kristan: Dolphin trainer.
Emily: I don’t know that I believe in reincarnation, but once when I was in New Orleans, I had a fortune teller tell me about my past lives. According to her, I was a horse trainer in medieval Spain. And a spy during the Russian Bolshevik revolution. For all I know, she tells everyone the exact same story, but it was fascinating stuff.
Shirley:  A painter, probably of landscapes rather than portraits.
Shana: Hmm…I can’t imagine myself as anyone but me!
Robyn: Delilah, you might have to explain that one to us one day. As for myself, definitely a princess, I would make an excellent princess.
Cindy: I sometimes have the feeling I lived in the old west….which is really odd because I can’t imagine living in such such conditions.

If you had the talent to be anything at all, what profession would you choose?
Kristan: A dolphin trainer!
Shana: I’m with Kristan. I’d also be an animal trainer–not necessarily dolphins. I don’t like water that much. Maybe I’d be Cesar Millan (Dog Whisperer).
Robyn: I’ve always harbored secret dreams of being a professional singer though I’ve never had a performance voice. I can carry a tune, but I’ve never had the presence nor range to pull off anything like that, but I think I would have really loved it.
Cindy: I’d love to be a singer/songwriter.
Delilah: I’d love to be a race car driver. 
Shirley: A carpenter.  I’m terrible with power tools — almost cut off the tip of my thumb in shop class — but I love unique wood furniture and cabinets.  Or a painter, of landscapes and seascapes.  However I’d rather have the income of someone talented with stocks and investments, someone like, say, Warren Buffet.
Margo: An inventor. I wish I could have lived in the Thomas Edison era! What a brain that guy had!
Emily: I wouldn’t necessarily want to do this professionally, but if I could have any talent, it would be singing. I can barely carry a tune, but would absolutely love to have a wonderful voice. And maybe talent at the piano to go along with it.

Do you have any special skills?
Kristan: Um…does bed-making count? I make a mean bed…bake pretty well….jeesh, this is a little depressing.. .
Margo: I am an excellent venipuncturist. If you’ve got bad veins and you need blood drawn, I’m your gal.
Robyn: Oh, man, Margo, I wish we lived closer, I have terrible veins - it nearly always takes them at least 3 sticks to get my veins going. Well, everyone already knows that I make the world’s greatest sugar cookies, but I also know sign language - it was my “foreign” language in college.
Cindy: I can make a fairly realistic “pig” noise.
Delilah: I can mimic an angry Donald Duck.
Emily: Hmm … hidden talents. I’m a pretty decent cook/baker. Okay, that might be hard for you guys to believe, though, because I only blog about the disasters. I also scuba dive. Does that count as a talent?
Shirley: I make my own jewelry.  I used to design and sell it in order to support my habit of buying pearls and gemstones, back when I had free time, before I sold my first book and had a baby.
Shana: I can sing. I majored in opera my first year in college.

Where are you in the birth order of your family?
Robyn: I’m the worst kind of kid because I’m technically the baby in the family, but according to birth order I’m also considered an only child since my siblings are more than 5 years older than me. Basically I’m just a brat.
Emily: Like Robyn, I’m the youngest, but my sister is five years older. I like to think I have all the best qualities of both only and youngest. If Robyn wants to call that bratty …
Margo: I’m the second of five, first girl. Which (in other words) means I’m the eldest because boys (when I was a kid) weren’t required to do much more than show up for meals.
Kristan: I’m the neglected middle child who overcompensates on all fronts.
Cindy: I have an older brother I grew up with….four half-sisters I’ve never met…and a half-brother I have met.
Delilah:  Well, I WAS the youngest.  Then my father divorced and remarried and sadly, I turned into a middle child.  Which is why I now write, LOL.
Shirley: Middle child, but since my two older sisters moved out and married by the time I was nine and my younger brother went to live elsewhere when I was a teen, I have personality aspects of oldest, youngest, only *and* middle child.  I can get along with almost anyone.
Shana: I’m an oldest middle. My brother is 8 years older than me, and I have a sister 2 years younger. I know what it’s like to have the spotlight and to be “neglected.” I think my personality is oldest child.

What’s your favorite bad-for-you food that you simply can’t give up?
Robyn: M&M’s. I don’t have them often, but I can’t imagine a world without their tiny colored yumminess. And I like plain and peanut, which reminds me, why don’t they package those two together, that would be like the perfect bag of candy.
Kristan: Brie..  Usually late at night.
Emily: Gosh, there are so many bad for me foods I could never give up. Raw chocolate chip cookie dough probably tops the list.
Delilah: Cheeseburgers and fries…
Shirley: Brownies — with nuts, hold the frosting.  I started making them from scratch so I could use whole wheat flour and less sugar to make them less bad for me, and since that takes longer than from a mix I don’t make them very often.
Cindy: Brownies.  I don’t dare make a pan of them–or I’ll eat them!
Shana: Ice cream. And ever since Anne’s blog on Magic Shell, now it’s ice cream with Magic Shell.
Margo: Chocolate of any persuasion!

September 28, 2008

Winner of Thursday’s contest

The winner of Thursday’s contest of Catslady.

Catslady, please email me privately at ebmckay at gmail.com with your mailing address, etc. and I’ll get the book out to you.

Everyone else, never fear, I’ll be blogging a couple more times in October, so you can still win. And as an extra bonus, I’ll have a special prize for anyone who enters the contest all three times. 

September 27, 2008

Cup of Coffee, anyone?

It’s starting to feel like Fall in Nebraska. Farmers have started to harvest the corn, the nights are cool and I’ve begun to drink more coffee. From the time I was a teenager I’ve loved the taste of coffee. When I started out, I liked it black. Then, in college, I worked in a small office and my boss was an avid coffee drinker. He loved his with cream. Before I quit working there I was drinking mine with cream. And, by the time I hit my 30’s, I was hooked on coffee with cream AND splenda. And if I can have it flavored (Snickerdoodle) all the better!

Did you know…
* 27% of U.S. coffee drinkers add a sweetener to their coffee.
* The popular trend towards flavored coffees origniated in the U.S. during the 1970’s
* The average person who buys coffee outside the office to consume at work will spend the equivalent value of a round trip plane ticket to Florida every year

With the downturn in the economy, I’ve heard some people are cutting back. Instead of stopping at Starbucks or hitting the Scooter’s drive-thru, they’re making their coffee at home. And sometimes, to further cut costs, they’re returning to less expensive coffees of yesteryear–Folger and Maxwell House.

I think Folgers 100% Columbian is good coffee. I haven’t tried Maxwell House in years.

The coffee I REALLY like comes from Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonalds or Cracker Barrel.

Has the downturn in the economy caused you to change your coffee drinking habits? And where can your favorite cup of coffee be found???

September 26, 2008

Welcome Beverly Jenkins!

First, I’d like to thank Margo for inviting me to contribute. The last time we were together was in the Detroit airport on our way to National. I’d forgotten my blood pressure meds and Margo’s timely advice helped save my bacon. I definitely needed the meds later when I got to the hotel in SanFran and discovered the shuttle driver had not loaded my luggage onto the van and left it standing on the side of the road at the airport! Talk about high blood pressure. Needless to say everything turned out okay, and I had a great time, so thanks again, Margo.

In Feb 09, my publisher Avon will be releasing my first mainstream. It’s titled Bring on the Blessings. The story is one of hope and faith, and did I mention there’s a 600 lb hog named Cletus that wears clothing, too! The engine of the story is a woman named Bernadine Brown. Her divorce from her oil king husband leaves her with Oprah-like money. She knows that when much is given much is expected, so she buys an historic town that is on the brink of bankruptcy. Her hope is to restore it to its former glory and infuse it with a 21st century purpose.

I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t fantasized about what they might do if they ever won the lottery. Dreams of new houses, saving the world and partying like there’s no tomorrow top many lists. Personally, I know of many organizations I would bless with a big shot of cash; most centered around education and kids, and yes, my friends and I would party, too. So what would you do if you like our heroine Bernadine Brown were suddenly given 275 million drawing interest every day?

Margo here: Visit Beverly Jenkins’ website here!
And check out her last cover from her April book, Jewel.

September 25, 2008

The Evils (and Joys) of Imagination

So here’s the cover of my October book.

No, this post isn’t about my book. At least not yet. Just keep reading to the end. Then you’ll see why I’m shamelessly promoting myself. 

A couple of weekends ago, I lost my girl in Babies R Us. She was only out of my sight for maybe five minutes total. One second, she was by my side while I thumbed through a rack of PJ’s. The next she was gone. As soon as I realized she was gone, I sent hubby to the front of the store to make sure no one left with her. I notified a store employee. I searched in ever-widening circles, calling out her name. 

I barely kept a rein on my panic. My heart was thundering. My throat tight. My imagination had taken flight. In my mind, she hadn’t just wandered off. She’d been snatched. We’d never find her. She was already being hustled out the back of the store and into a car. Her fate was unthinkable. 

I lived a lifetime of sorrow and remorse in those few minutes. And then I found her, sitting on the ground, behind an aisle of toys, humming to herself, not ten feet from where I’d been. She was safe. She was fine. Never in any danger. But in those briefs minutes she’d been missing, my imagination had complete control of my mind and my body.

It’s a powerful thing, we have, this ability to transport ourselves with our minds. And it’s not just in our minds either. Our bodies have physiologically responses to what our minds imagine.  It’s an amazing thing when you think about it. It’s what separates us from every other creature on earth. At least as far as we know, no one but humans can imagine.

That day at Babies R Us, I cursed my vivid imagination. My morning would have been much more relaxing if I’d been able to calmly search the store for my missing daughter until I found her. No fear. No panic. No tears or nausea. But most days, I’m profoundly thankful for my imagination. 

It’s what gives me the ability to write books. More importantly, it’s what makes reading books pleasurable. It’s the difference a book conveying information and transporting you to another world. And,frankly there’s nothing else like it in the world. Movies and TV entertain and amuse, but they don’t engage the imagination in quite the same way. That’s what makes books so special. 

And now, here’s an awkward segue back to my book …. 

Come October my new book, Baby Benefits, will be released by Silhouette Desire. Since it’s the sequel to my April book, Baby on the Billionaire’s Doorstep, I’ll be giving away a copy of that to one of the people who responds to today’s post.

When was the last time your imagination got the better of you?

September 24, 2008

What’s the worst thing that’s ever been in your pants?

Got your attention, didn’t it? Writers are always encouraged to have a good opening line…Anyway, I recalled the “worst thing in my pants” issue when I was picking flowers the other day, skipping merrily through the field, bluebirds circling overhead…no, wait. I forgot. That was all ruined by the worst thing in my pants. I can’t go into the garden without great trepidation any more…ever since…(insert your favorite scary music here).

A couple of years ago, my cousin was getting married, and, since I have a nice big garden, I offered to do her flowers. It was going to be gorgeous. Mason jars brimming with zinnias and cosmos, black-eyed susans and roses. But I found that I needed a bit more filler, so my husband, kids and I traipsed down the street to a big field where lots of pretty wildflowers grew.

It was so picturesque…me, the DH, our lovely kids picking flowers. The sun shone overhead, the grasshoppers jumped merrily about…quite a few grasshoppers, actually. It had been a dry summer, and they were out in droves.

I was wearing jeans. Everyone else, shorts. When I felt the little tickle at my ankle, I just figured it was a grasshopper. I gave my foot a little shake, and the tickle stopped. A second later, there it was again. I shook my foot more vigorously. Yuck. Didn’t want a grasshopper in my pants, after all. I’m not squeamish about bugs, but come on. No one wants a bug in her pants, right?

Then the tickle…moved. It…climbed. Up the calf, almost to my knee.Wow, I thought. That’s some determined grasshopper. I grabbed the excess fabric of my pant leg and shook it hard. Surely the grasshopper’s little legs couldn’t withstand that kind of earthquake action. Surely it had fallen out.

And then…and then…the tickle moved. It…crawled. It crawled upward. “Honey?” I said, adrenaline flooding out in gallons. “Honey?” The dear husband looked at me. The tickle moved. It…ran. Higher. Straight up the old pant leg. Past the knee. Up further. And further still. “Honey? HONEY!” I shrieked.

There was a lump on my leg. A moving lump. “Something’s in my pants!” I screamed. The lump zipped around to the back of my leg and right across my butt (the jeans were loose, dang it all). It circled around to the front again, getting perilously, er, personal.

That was it. I yanked open my jeans and pulled them down. “Mommy, those people can see your underwear,” my daughter observed, pointing to a house nearby. I barely heard her, as I was busy screaming.

There, in my pants, was a mouse. In hindsight, it wasn’t that big, really. It was a field mouse. But then, when it was in my pants, it was monstrous. Terrified that it would seek shelter deeper in my pants, I froze. Our eyes locked. Perhaps motivated by abject terror, it decided to escape. It…leaped. Onto my shirt. And with a shriek that could be heard for a good half mile, I flung that little rodent far, far away.

Having a mouse in your pants…well, it’s not the worst thing that could happen. But for weeks thereafter, I jerked out of a sound sleep, certain there was a mouse in our bed. And gardening, obviously, hasn’t been the same since.

So…anyone else have a good mouse story? Or anything else that gave you the heeby-jeebies?

Kristan

www.kristanhiggins.com

September 23, 2008

Procrastination

This is something we all can relate to, especially writers, we’re very good at procrastination. So for your viewing pleasure a small segment of a larger show that aired a million years ago, on Showtime, I think.

The show only gets funnier, so scoot on over to Youtube and look for Steven Banks, then waste some time watching something about wasting time. I promise you won’t regret it.

September 22, 2008

The Aftermath

I’m sure by now you’ve seen something on the news about Hurricane Ike. Here in Houston, it’s more than news—it’s daily life.

The hurricane hit on Saturday, September 13, and we finally got power on Friday, September 19. I have friends who are still in the dark. The electric company says they’ll get their power back “after Monday.”

I still don’t have cable or Internet service, so I’m writing this from Starbuck’s. Hopefully, I’ll have service soon, but if I’m not able to check comments today, I’ll check them soon.

There’s a lot to be thankful for in the aftermath of a hurricane. Our house didn’t flood or suffer any major damage. USF and I live across from a bayou, so we evacuated to another city. The bayou didn’t overflow its banks, and we were safe.

I’m also thankful for things I never thought much about before—ice, hot showers, peanut butter, batteries, and water pressure.

Things I am not thankful for include dead cell phones, long lines at gas stations, creeping humidity, dead traffic lights treated as four-way stops, and my neighbors a few streets down who had power last Monday.

So be thankful when you turn on your bathroom light, make hot coffee, or read this blog. None of it would be possible without electricity.

September 20, 2008

Are you in synch??

As the new group of television shows are hitting the screens, I began to wonder if there is any correlation between what we like to read and what we like to watch on television. Are readers of suspense drawn to cop shows and action adventure television shows? Do paranormal readers flip the channel to shows like Supernatural or my last year’s favorite, Moonlight? Do those who like Young Adult gravitate towards Gossip Girl and 90210?

I like to read historicals…primarily the Regency time period, but I also like the old West. I like to read contemporaries, expecially Harlequin and Silhouette books. And I like inspirational romance. Other genres will catch my eye, but what I’ve listed are what I mainly read.

What kind of television shows do I watch? Even though I don’t read much paranormal, I loved Moonlight and New Amsterdam (shows both cancelled after one season). I like House but I’m not much for medical romance. I like 24 although I don’t read much suspense. Gossip Girl has captured my attention, even though I don’t read a lot of YA.

It appears my theory that our reading and television preferences being in synch has been blown out of the water…unless… perhaps I’m the aberration…

So, tell me…what do you primarily read? And does your television viewing match your reading interests? Or are you like me where there appears to be no correlation?