When I received my order from Omaha Steaks, included in the package was a set of nine “conversation cards.” Apparently these questions are a great way to start the chit-chat, so I’m pulling them out to see if they work.

The question I picked seemed appropriate considering what my daughter and I were discussing this week. She was telling me about a co-worker who’d just started dating a new guy. Okay, nothing too exciting there. But apparently the guy lives in an old house that was originally built to be a hospital in the late 1800’s. I saw a picture of the place and it’s very cool. Even better, the place is supposedly haunted. Can you see where I’m going with this?

This weeks’ conversation card question is:

Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen one?

If you asked me this question at a party, I’d have to say. Yes, I believe. No, I’ve never seen one.

Okay, so supposing I asked you this question at a party and we both believe and neither have seen one. Yawn. Conversation hits a big dead end.

So, I mentally pull out another conversation card and hit you with “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

What would you tell me??

Wishing everyone a happy weekend!!

My dearest Readers,
So today, it is my turn to post. And I didn’t even know it!!! Le sigh. I must admit, as of late, I have the memory of an ant. Though at this point, I think an ant has a better memory than I do… I apologize for myself and promise to give everyone a much better post the next time around.

That said, because I haven’t yet shared my new cover for my next upcoming release…I give thee…the cover for the second book in my School of Gallantry Series, THE LORD OF PLEASURE that will be out this August. Forgive its unimpressive size. I tried to blow it up, but it got all blurry…grumble, grumble…
You can see the full monty, however, at my website www.DelilahMarvelle.com.

Covers. Ah yes. They are always *so* much fun for an author to get. It’s like being pregnant for 9 months and not knowing whether you’re going to get a boy or a girl or an…alien. I’ve been pretty dang fortunate with all the covers I’ve received thus far, but being the type of person that I am, I intend to “strip” the cover down for you, Delilah Marvelle style.

Here is what went through my head when I got my cover:
Oooo…red.
OMGod…look at his chest!!! It takes up half the cover. But that’s good. That’s very good (despite what my husband thinks). Chests sell. Wait…his nipples are hard. Is he cold? He’s supposed to be hot, dang it, not cold!
Shirts really didn’t open up like that in 1830. So much for my historical detail. Le sigh. At least there’s a ruffle on the sleeve which indicates it’s historical. Or at least I hope it does…
Thank goodness they didn’t show his entire face. I wanted Beckham on the cover and while the man on the cover is very, very nice, he isn’t Beckham.
And what is with that colonial bed???? There isn’t a single scene throughout the entire story that showcases a bed (yet alone a colonial one). My characters are quite unconventional, thank you very much, and don’t require the use of a bed. But hey, it gets the point across. Man. Chest. Bed. I’m happy.

So…what are your thought on my cover? Be honest people….I promise I won’t cry. I also would love to hear what you love to see on covers and what you *hate* to see on covers.
Me? I’ll give it plain. I love it when you can’t see their entire faces. It leaves more to the imagination. A LOT MORE. What do I hate? When the book is historical but the cover looks contemporary. You have no idea how many good books I’ve skimmed past because I thought it was contemporary….
So until next time (which I promise will be more entertaining),
Cheers and much love,
Delilah Marvelle

I’m an optimist. It keeps me going. I believe in the potential good.
—Robert Redford

With the economy and job market the way they are I thought this quote was a good place to start my blog today.  I am an optimist.  Sometimes I want to be depressed about some bad news I’ve gotten, kind of wallow in feeling bad for a little while but I can’t.  There’s always a voice in the back of my head that says it could be worse.

And that one thought always turns my thinking around.  I do believe in good that is probably why I write romance novels for aliving.  I also believe that love can be found in any relationship and that we all deserve that kind of happiness.

I’ve had people say I live in a dream world or as my family likes to say Kathy’s World.  But I like Kathy’s world because I’ve found that when I believe the best in people they respond in kind.  Every time I’ve expected something to go wrong–it does!  And when I believe that everything works out for me, guess what?  It does too.

What about you?  Optimist, pessimist, other-world dweller?  At the end of the day do yous till believe in the good around you?

Happy Reading!

Kathy

Cindy’s post the other day about inspiration (or rather my response to her post) got me thinking about all hard working musician types whose work inspires me. I’ve always admired song writers and musicians, probably because it’s a talent that’s creative, like writing, but completely different that anything I can do. I mean, I can barely carry a tune. Singing a song would be beyond me, forget writing one. 

But here’s the thing, there are people who do that for a living. Like, every work day of their lives. They get up in the morning, go to their office or studio or wherever and make music. Can you imagine what that must be like? 

I only caught a snipit of the Oscars on Sunday, but the bit I did catch was the best original score. Danny Elfman was up for an Oscar, ’cause he basically has done work on … well, just about everything it seems. My husband asked, “Hey, didn’t he used to be in a band or something?”

Suddenly I remembered that yes, he was the lead singer in Oingo Boingo and had a solo album that I loved obsessively as a teenager. Funny how I’d forgotten about it for nearly two decades and then–bam–I was hit with urge to run off to my childhood bedroom, put the So-Lo LP on the turn table and just veg out to Sucker for a Mystery. 

The mind is curious thing. All day today I’ve reminiscing about music I loved as a teenager. I had weird taste in music. I like some Synthpop, like Yaz and Erasure (the same guy was in both bands, thank you Wikipedia. Who knew?) and a lot of British New Wave stuff, like Oingo Boingo, Joe Jackson, and The Cure. Of course, I was a teenager at the time, and a geeky one at that. I didn’t know terms like Synthpop and New Wave. Again, thank you Wikipedia. 

The internet, like the mind, is a curious thing. It allowed me to take this weird trip down memory lane without having to dig through a bunch of dusty old LP’s in hopes that maybe I hadn’t thrown away “the one that had that oddly bouncy song with grim lyrics that was something about a Mystery.” Instead I just googled Danny Elfman and ten minutes later I was listening to the song on iTunes, tapping my foot, vegging out Sucker for Mystery.

So what music from your teenage years do you sometimes long for?

Some of you know that I’ve been searching for a new publisher. I have a new agency who’s really excited about my work, and they’ve been shopping a new book for me. I just got my first rejection. I expect to get quite a few more, but I sincerely hope they’re not all for the same reason.

See, I was rejected because of my exotic setting.

The setting is…wait for it…Regency England. I know! So exotic, right? But the backstory has to do with the French Revolution, and a small part of the book does take place in France.

Yes, France. Pretty exotic. Readers definitely do not like stories set in France, especially if they have anything to do with the French Revolution. I mean, what could be more boring than The Scarlet Pimpernel or A Tale of Two Cities?

But all kidding aside, why are some publishers so afraid to do anything different? I mean, if France is a problem, I can’t imagine what an author who wants to set a historical in Africa or Asia must go through.

How do you feel about exotic settings? Love ‘em? Hate ‘em?

Linda is the winner of Friday’s drawing. Congratulations!

Contact me – margo@margomaguire.com and I’ll get your contact information.

On one of the radio shows last week they were talking about people who’ve inspired us. Some of the callers spoke about their parents or another relative. Teachers and coaches were mentioned as were great leaders in history. It got me thinking.

Several people come immediately to mind.

My first grade teacher, Alice Leiniger. She thought I was smart and had great potential. Because she believed in me, I believed in myself and strove to do the best job possible.

My mother who always thought I could do what I set my mind to do. But yet, if I didn’t want to set my sights too high, that would have been okay with her. She epitomized what unconditional love was all about. The crazy thing was, she grew up in a family where she didn’t feel valued. She told me she vowed that her children would always know how much they were loved.

Now, I turn to some strong women in history. Helen Keller. Eleanor Roosevelt. Mary Pickford (actress and founder of United Artists). All of these women inspire me. Not because they were perfect, but because they stood for something and made a mark on history.

How about you? Who has inspired you?

Everybody’s got them. Those household jobs that you put off because you can’t stand them. There are many jobs that I don’t really like, but it’s no big deal to do them – like cleaning the bathrooms, soft-mopping the dustbunnies from the hardwood floors – but then there are the jobs I hate.

Like cutting up chicken. I buy boneless chicken breasts, but I usually trim them and package them so that I can pull out just the right amount from the freezer when I’m preparing a meal. But … yuck. Not a pleasant job. (I should go vegetarian like Shana!)

Then there’s putting the clean dishes away from the dishwasher. Granted, I’m fortunate to have a dishwasher, and I shouldn’t complain. But I only run it once a day, and when we have a lot of people here (all 3 kids and company, too) there are lots of clean dishes and silverware to be put away. And the silverware is the worst! No, I don’t think I’d enjoy actually washing and drying the dishes myself, so I put up with this tedious job.

Folding laundry. We have a rule at our house – you don’t just take a full load out of the dryer and dump it in a basket. You have to fold it . Ug – It’s the most boring job on the planet! And of course, there’s a procrastination factor at work here … most everyone can wait it out until somebody folds what’s in the dryer.

Filling the dog food container. We have two big dogs, and we have to mix two different kinds of dog food for these fussy canines. I do this in the basement, then haul the big container upstairs to the kitchen, at least once a week. Then, of course, the result of all that eating — Cleaning up the yard! Ew. (My next dog is going to fit in my purse!)

What’s your least favorite household job? I’m going to pick one responder to send a copy of my January release from Avon – WILD. So come on, fess up!

Enjoy.

more cat pictures

more cat pictures

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more cat pictures

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