Saturday, October 31, 2009

Three...

Yep, I know you can count, but still... you know what's happening in 3 days. See the lovely animated banner on the side of my blog that Jax made for me? I love it.

By the way, Happy Halloween everyone. It' s my 2nd favorite *holiday*. I just went to Publix and wiped them out of candy (well, almost.) I get a million Trick or Treaters at my house so I must be prepared.

Here's an image to leave you with. Truffles dressed as The Great Pumpkin!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Four...

Days till Bunco Babes Gone Wild comes out! I know, I know, you're sick of hearing about it. Sorry, excitement is hard to contain. Especially if it's mine:)

Today is Sneak Peak Friday.

That means I'm going to let you in on a few things.

First, my Which Bunco Babe are you? contest is almost at a close. There's only 2 more days to enter, so hurry. You can take the quiz right here and directions to enter are at the end. I haven't done an official count yet, but right now by glancing at the entries I'll tell you that so far, the number of Kittys and Sheas are pretty close. Pilars of the world, where are you?? Remember contest ends November 1.

Which brings me to my November contest. Write a review for Bunco Babes Tell All and/or Bunco Babes Gone Wild and post it either on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble or Goodreads or any other place you can review a book, and earn one entry per review (yes, this means you'll have a chance to enter multiple times! And no, the review doesn't have to be a 5 star- I want you to be honest!) The prize will be another $50 gift certificate to Borders plus a gigantic bag of books. The books are going to be a collection of my favorites, which means they are all going to be fantastic, which means one lucky winner is going to have a lot of hours of great reading! Believe me, this is one contest you aren't going to want to miss! I'll have more details up on my website and on the side bar of the blog. Contest will start on November 3 and end December 1.

Oh, and don't forget, you can win a copy of Bunco Babes Tell All by leaving a comment right here at Book Junkie. You have till November 3 to enter.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Five...

More days till Bunco Babes Gone Wild comes out. Just in case you're wondering or anything...

To celebrate I'm over at Book Junkie where the lovely Brande has posted a review of Bunco Babes Tell All and a Q&A with yours truly. I giving away an autographed book, so go on over and comment and enter to win.

Yesterday I recieved a lovely surprise (although I guess you can't really call it a surprise since I was expecting it, but you know what I mean). I opened my door to find a package from Harper Collins. And now, I haven't switched publishers. Inside my HC package was my copy of Pioneer Woman's Cookbook! I won it on Goodreads. The book is absolutely gorgeous, filled with lots of beautiful pictures, and I can't wait to start digging into the recipes!




Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Six...

That's the number of days left till my newest release, Bunco Babes Gone Wild comes out! I'm pretty excited about this book. And I have to admit, it was really easy for me to write and I've always wondered why. Well, now I think I know. To get ready for the book's release, I've been guest blogging around the stratosphere and one question that has popped up more than once was "What's been your favorite scene to write?" The answer to that made me realize why BBGW seemed to write itself. By far, the Black Tie Bunco party scene in this book has been my favorite. After you read the book, I hope it'll be one of your favorite scenes too:)

Speaking of countdowns... there's just 4 days left to enter my Which Bunco Babe Are you? contest. Follow the directions at the end of the contest to enter. There's an autographed book and a $50 gift certificate to Borders up for grabs, so don't miss out. I'll be hosting another contest in November, so look for details on that one too.

Plus...he he.. I have a special surprise for next week. But you'll have to tune in to find out. Don't ask me what it is though, because I'm terrible at keeping secrets. Unless... you've told me a secret, in which case my lips are sealed;)

Monday, October 26, 2009

So You Think You Can Dance?

Man, am I out of shape. Lest you laugh and say duh cut me some slack. I (or rather my thighs) are paying dearly for my mad dash across the Leon County Civic Center Parking lot Saturday night to see the So You Think You Can Dance traveling show. In my defense, I was not on Cuban Time. If you're not sure what Cuban Time is, let me explain. It's 30 minutes later than regular time. But I've been so excited about seeing the show, that I was a good girl. I shuffled my 16 year-old out of the house almost 45 minutes before the show started. Which ordinarily should have been okay.

Here's how I imagined the breakdown:

Drive to Civic Center: 20 minutes
Park and walk to the gate: 10 minutes
Buy a program, check out the merchandise, and find our seats: 15 minutes

Sounds good, no?

This is how it went down:

Get stuck in traffic because it's FAMU's Homecoming (which I forgot) and everyone and their brother is trying to get downtown: 40 minutes
Get stuck in the line to park, then find out the parking lot is full and you're getting diverted to a parking garage across the street: another 15 minutes
Run from said parking garage to the civic center in 2 inch heels: another 5 minutes (although it seemed like an eternity).

So you do the math. We are now 20 minutes late.

Luckily for me, half of Tallahassee was late too, because the show was just beginning as we got inside the civic center. Hearing the theme music sends my pulse racing, so we started running again to find the right section and our seats. I also think I might have been yelling something like, "Brandon! Janine! I'm coming!!" Yeah, I might have yelled something like that.

All I can say is that it was worth it. Every second of it. The show was fantastic. I laughed, I was wowed, and I even shed a few tears. Even my thighs are happy we went:)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Saturday Morning Live

It's live, Saturday morning, and I have my cup of coffee in hand. Am being VERY careful not to get it near my laptop. Yesterday, I carelessly let some of the strawberry jelly drip off my bagel while I was writing and the keys on my keyboard went into a diabetic coma. In other words, they stuck together all day. Yuck, you say? Me too. I had to get Mike Geraci to unstick my keyboard. Which sounds kind of nasty, doesn't it? But believe me it was totally PG rated.

My Stop Plodding, Start Plotting! workshop at Romance Divas has "officially" ended, although I'm still going to be posting material today and taking questions through the weekend. I'd given this workshop once before for my land based RWA group Florida Panhandle Romance Writers but never online before. I learned a lot. And hopefully so did the participants. There's a really great group of writers over at RD and although I've been a member for awhile, I've never really participated. But I hope to change that and be more active in the future.

On the nice news front, I got a really lovely review of Bunco Babes Tell All over at Ellz Readz. Yay! There's nothing lovlier than hearing that someone loves your book. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Guest Blogging Hooked on Romance

Today I'm over at Hooked on Romance, where you'll find a sneak peek excerpt from my new novel Bunco Babes Gone Wild. Leave a comment and you could win a free autographed book!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Yay! Stuff

There's lots of stuff going on right now to jump up and down and shout yay! about. Want to hear? Okay, since you twisted my arm:)

First, it's finally official. I signed the contract for my next book and it's on its way to New York, ink barely dry. I sold a third Bunco book back in June, but after some deliberation, my pub decided they wanted me to go in another direction. So I came up with another concept (still women's fiction, still funny and still sexy, I hope!) but not Bunco related. The book is titled (tentatively) The Boyfriend of the Month Club. Here's the working blurb:

Grace O’Bryan has just turned thirty and works as the manager for her parents’ embarrassingly tacky Florida gift shop. And Grace’s professional life isn’t her only source of frustration. She’s also dated every loser Daytona Beach has to offer. After the ultimate date from hell, Grace decides enough is enough and turns her dwindling book club into a Boyfriend of the Month Club. By coming together to discuss the eligible men in their community, maybe she can help someone else avoid the frustration of finding out an attractive cover doesn’t always mean there’s a good guy inside. Comparing the men they’ve dated to classic literary characters such as Heathcliff, Mr. Rochester, and the ever popular Darcy and Wickham, club membership explodes as the women of Daytona Beach come out in droves. Unfortunately, Grace is about to discover that men are a lot more complicated than books, and that what separates the Mr. Darcys from the Mr. Wickhams might not be so cut and dry after all.


I told Mike Geraci that a research trip to GatorLand is in order. Believe me, when you read the book, you'll understand. MG isn't sure he wants to do GatorLand. But he will. Trust me. And when I go, you'll get plenty of pics!



So, my next Yay! thing:

I won a copy of Pioneer Woman's cookbook from the goodreads program! If you don't know what goodreads is, then you should. It's like the biggest online book club in the world. They also do giveaways (my book Bunco Babes Gone Wild is a current give away, so if you want to win a free copy, head on over there and enter!) I've never entered one of their give aways, but you know how I feel about PW's upcoming book. So I put out the positive vibes, entered and was notified yesterday that I won! Recipe updates to follow...

And my last Yay! thing:

Today, my Stop Plodding, Start Plotting! workshop began over at Romance Divas. It's free if you're a member. So if you want to partake of my awesome workshop (he) come on over and sign up then look for me in the Author of the Month section.

So, that's it for Yay! stuff for me. Plenty to jump up and down about, don't you think?

Monday, October 19, 2009

Christmas Miracles


No, it's not too early to start thinking of Christmas! My good friend Marley Gibson, author of the fabulous Ghost Huntress series has a new book out and isn't the cover just fabulous? The book came out last week and below, you'll find Marley's interview with her co-author Cecil Murphey (who also co-authored the NY Times best seller 90 Minutes in Heaven)

An Interview with Cecil “Cec” Murphey
by Marley Gibson
Co-authors of Christmas Miracles, coming October 13th from St. Martin’s Press


I am extremely privileged to have the opportunity today to talk to my friend and co-author, Cecil “Cec” Murphey, and to chat about our upcoming book, Christmas Miracles.

Marley: Cec, thanks for spending some time with me today.

Cec: Marley, it's great that you could take time away from important things like making a living to spend a little time with me.

Marley: I’m so jazzed about our Christmas Miracles book that’s coming out soon. I’ve had a lot of questions from folks wanting to know how we met, what brought us together, etc. So, I thought we’d do a back and forth on how it all came to be. Of course, I have to give props to our amazing agent and friend, Deidre Knight, for bringing us together. For those of you who don’t know, Cec co-authored the runaway New York Times bestselling hit 90 Minutes in Heaven with Don Piper.

Cec: I have to say thanks to Deidre Knight as well. Between Deidre and my assistant, Twila Belk, I've been able to sell quite a few books. 90 Minutes in Heaven has been my big book. I'm also proud of a book I wrote in 1990 called Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. The book has never been out of print and has hit close to four million in sales. Early this year, Cuba Gooding Jr. starred in the made-for-TV film version.

Marley: That’s amazing! You are truly prophetic and definitely “the man behind the words.” Now, people ask how we teamed up. Sadly, there was a personal tragedy that brought Cec and me together as friends.

Cec: True. In early 2007, our house burned and our son-in-law died. Aside from the grief over Alan, we lost everything. Deidre and Jan, my-then-assistant, sent the word out of our tragedy without telling me. I'm immensely grateful for every gift people sent, but I probably wouldn't have admitted I needed help and wouldn't have asked. They taught me how much we need other people.

Marley: Deidre put out a call to other clients of The Knight Agency, to help Cec and his family out in any way in their time of need. At the time, my company was moving and we were cleaning house. We had a ton of office supplies that we were either going to throw away or give to some of the charities the company worked with. I got my boss’ permission to send a large care package to Cec…full of office supplies for him to re-stock his writer’s office. You name it…post-its, staples, paper clips, pens, pencils, markers, white out, ruler, scissors, paper, notebooks, notepads, envelopes, a laptop case, tape, glue, folders, binder clips…etc. A veritable potpourri of office delights. I was hoping that it would help Cec have a sense of getting his office back so he could keep working.

Cec: Marley's gift was the most unexpected I received. We hadn't met, although Deidre Knight had spoken of her many times and kept telling me she was wonderful. I wonder if you can imagine what it was like for me to open that box from someone I didn't know. I saw all those practical things for my office and yelled for my wife. I felt as if I were reading a first-grade book. "Look! Look and see! Oh, look!" I was overwhelmed by the gift and even more to receive it from a stranger. Those supplies were the most practical gift anyone could have given me. I'm still using black paper clips and red folders from Marley.

Marley: Awww…thanks, Cec! I didn’t have to think twice about doing it. Writing is such a solitary “sport,” but the writing community always astounds me with how they help their own. Not long after that, over plates of spinach and Gouda omelets, Deidre introduced me to Cec in person and I was thrilled to finally meet the man behind the words. Deidre knew we needed to work on a project together and thus began our brainstorming. What did you think of that first meeting, Cec, and cooking up the idea to work together?

Cec: Deidre and I had already spoken about a Christmas book and I had some idea about what it should contain, but nothing had come together. One day Deidre told me that Marley was coming to visit her and she wanted us to work together on a Christmas project. Marley and I talked before we ate and again during the meal. Everything felt right to me. I knew my strengths and Marley knew hers (and Deidre knew both of us). Everything clicked. Marley, a far better networker than I am, immediately sent out the word for submissions. Within days she had almost four times more than we could use. (She read every one of them!)

Marley: I was truly impressed with the submissions we received and it was hard narrowing it down to the ones we chose for the book. We’re fortunate to have such a go-getter agent in Deidre Knight. Cec, can you share how the whole idea of Christmas Miracles came about and what you thought of the project originally?

Cec: For me, it actually started while I was on the rapid-rail train from the Atlanta airport when I listened to teens talk about Christmas and it was mostly about gifts. I had the idea then, but nothing really came together. Months later when Deidre I and had a meeting, she brought up the idea of a compilation and mentioned my working with Marley. I've been Deidre Knight's client since 1997 and I've learned to listen carefully when she comes up with an idea. I said yes before she gave me all the information.

Marley: That’s the truth about Deidre! Getting back to those submissions, Iwant to say we got more than two hundred submissions for Christmas Miracles. So many wonderful stories to read through and select for the book. It was a challenge to pick and choose which ones were right for the book, but I loved every minute of it. After I chose the entries that would go into the book, Cec toiled long hours editing the works for a unified voice. What was the biggest challenge you found in the editing process, Cec?

Cec: I've been a ghostwriter and collaborator for twenty-plus years and this was a switch to give the book a unified voice—which was mine. It would have been easier to stay with each writer's voice, but the book—like many compilations—would have been uneven in tone and quality. When I discussed this via email with our delightful editor, Rose Hilliard, she was (to my surprise) familiar with my work. She told me she liked the warm tone of my writing and that I don't waste words. "That's the voice we want," she said. It still wasn't easy, but it was an exciting challenge. After Marley and I agreed on the stories and gave them that unified voice, our editor pulled six contributions. Although different, Rose felt they were too similar to other stories.

Marley: Can you give our readers a preview of the book? A favorite story perhaps…or one that moved you to tears? (I have to say the little boy who wished for nothing but to be able to read a book all the way through because of his stutter had me bawling when I read the submission.)

Cec: That's not fair! I liked them all. The one that touched me most, however, is the last story in the book, "Sean's Question." We had almost finished the book and I was teaching at a conference in Florida. I felt we needed one strong story at the end. Despite all the good ones, I didn't feel fully satisfied to conclude the book. On the last day of the conference, I met a conferee named Sara Zinn for a consultation. As we talked, I mentioned Christmas Miracles and that I still needed one more story. "I have a Christmas story," she said and told me about Sean. As I listened, tears filled my eyes—but, being the macho type I am, I was sure it was an allergy. Sara wrote the story, and it became the one I sought.

Marley: Oh yes…that one is an emotional one all right. It was meant to be in the book because of how you met at the conference. Now, you and I have both had challenges in our lives that others might have found too much to take, but we are both very strong in our faith and our relationship with God. How do you think Christmas Miracles is going to help others feel closer to God and experience His miracles in their own lives?

Cec: Awareness and appreciation are the two things I want readers to grasp. Awareness means for them to realize that they're never totally alone in life. Those unexpected, out-of-the-ordinary events remind us of that. Appreciation means to be thankful for what we already have. Too often, and especially at Christmas, we focus on what we'd like or what is supposed to make us happy. Christmas Miracles gently reminds readers of both.

Marley: In this day and age when our country is fighting two wars, unemployment is high, and a lot of people have a lack of hope and faith for their future, what do you want readers of the book to take away from Christmas Miracles and how can the stories in our book help provide comfort to those struggling?

Cec: I want readers to see that miracles do happen—sometimes simple, unexpected blessings or those that involve the supernatural (as in one of Marley's stories). I call myself a serious Christian. For me, the world's greatest miracle began with the birth of Jesus. Regardless of a person's religion, this book encourages readers to think about life during the Christmas season and see that life as more than gifts and celebrations. It's also a reminder that God loves us and hears our needy cries.

Marley: Beautifully put, Cec, and I couldn’t agree with you more. Can we share what’s next after Christmas Miracles? J

Cec: Why it's the Cec and Marley show, of course. Because of our go-getter agent and our enthusiastic editor, we've already received thumbs up for The Christmas Spirit. This will be stories of people who express the true spirit of Christmas by acts of love and kindness, for release in the fall of 2011.

Marley: And I can’t wait to start working on that project! Thank you so much for your time, Cec, and answering my questions. It was a privilege and honor to work with you and I look forward to our future projects together. You’ve helped me along during a trying time and I appreciate your friendship and support.

Cec: I liked this project because Marley had to send out the word, collect submissions, read them, and discard the weaker ones. I get to see only the better-written stories. (Don't tell her that I have the better job.) Although I mentioned only one story, all of those in the book touched me because of the poignancy of their situations and the miraculous answers. I won't say the stories increased my faith, but they increased my appreciation for the delightful mix of human need and divine intervention.

Marley: Thanks again, Cec! God Bless! And to our readers, please be sure to pick up a copy of CHRISTMAS MIRACLES, out October 13, 2009 from St. Martin’s Press. It’s a great stocking stuffer or gift basket filler. We hope you, too, will discover your own Christmas Miracles your life.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Blog Tour, Giveaway, and Target!

Today I'm over at Novel Thoughts talking about my soon-to-be-released book Bunco Babes Gone Wild. Hop on over and say hello, and you might win an autographed copy of Bunco Babes Tell All. Although if you read my blog, then you should already have a copy, right? But come on over and say hi anyway, it will make me feel good!

There's also a tiny sneak peak into my next, next book, The Boyfriend of the Month Club. And for now, that's all I'm giving away:)

So you're probably wondering why the word Target is in my blog title. I've always joked around that I'll know I've made it when I see my books at Target. Well guess what? Yep. I'm at Target! Not physically, mind you, but hey, that's a technicality right now, because last night while I was accidentally googling myself, I found Bunco Babes Gone Wild on sale online at Target! Check it out right here. Pretty cool, huh?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

In which Maria gets up on her soapbox

Because I'm such a Kitty (and if you don't know what that means, then you need to take my Which Bunco Babe are you? quiz. Now. But I digress)...Because I'm such a Kitty, I hardly ever make waves. I just don't like to stir the pot, so to speak, but this has been weighing on my mind for some time now. I want to talk about those persons who will pick up a book and then blast said book because of a) the language and or, b) the sex. Now, this is America, and people are free to do what they want. Which means I can also write this post:)

Maybe books should be like movies and come with ratings. I think that would solve a lot of problems. But unfortunately, they don't. Sometimes, you pick up a book with one expectation, and what you get is something altogether different.

Take "The Time Traveler's Wife" for instance. *spoiler* Here's a book with lots of sex, lots of profanity, and a few strange scenes (Henry's masturbation) thrown in for good measure. I will say that that masturbation scene threw me a bit, but I kept reading. Not so much because I loved Henry (I found him to be extremely selfish, but also extremely compelling) but because the writing was just so damn good and I had to find out what happened at the end of the story. That said, out of curiosity, I went to some review sites and read what people had to say about the book. Not surprisingly, there were as many 1 and 2 star reviews as there were 4 and 5 star reviews. Big books are like that. The more people that read a book, the more all over the spectrum the reviews are. But what surprised me is the frequency in which some of the 1 star reviews called the author out for excessive, offensive sex and profanity. I don't know about you, but if I pick up a book and it offends me, I stop reading it. Life is too short to do something that a) I don't want to do if I don't have to, and b) makes me uncomfortable/squirmy.

So let's go to what I really want to say here. If you pick up a book that's been labeled erotica or Christian literature, then you know what you're going to get. But what about all those books in between? Namely, the genre most dear to my heart: chick lit/women's fiction. From my own personal experience (and I haven't gotten a 1 star review yet, but I will welcome it if it means that lots of people are reading my books!) I've come across people who have told me that they are *shocked* by the sex in my book. These are people who know me, so I have to wonder how well they really know me if they are that shocked, but for a long time now, if anyone has asked me to describe my books I say it's "Bunco meets Sex and the City." And that pretty much takes care of that. And honestly, there's not that much sex in the books. Really. And the few scenes that are there, I think are pretty funny, or at least they are to me, but I'll stop right here, because that's not what I want this post to be about.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that stories are about real people. And real people (especially single men and women in their 20's and 30's and beyond) have sex, occasionally cuss and do other assorted things/behaviors that you'd find in any movie/TV series out there. Here's another big shocker: Teenagers also have sex and use profanity! Pretty much with the exclusion of fiction that's been labeled "Christian" I would expect to find a little or a lot of all that in a book that focuses on male/female relationships. Now, let me scoot back a bit more and say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Christian literature. There's a market for it and most of it, is, I'm sure, wonderful reading. I myself, am a Christian, I just don't happen to write Christian fiction. I write the kind of books I want to read, because if I don't love my own books then why should anyone else? So, for future reference, let me just say that all my books are going to be rated R. Pretty simple way to solve the problem, huh?

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Does Len need glasses?

I used to love Len. The way he and Bruno bantered on Dancing with the Stars always used to bring a smile to my face. But this season, he's seriously getting on my nerves. What the hell, Len? The first week you give Mya a 5, and then last week you gave her a 7. A 7? For one of the best rumbas I've ever seen on the show??? I was really hoping your meds had kicked in this week and that you'd seen the light. At least last night you gave her an 8. But seriously, when the rest of the judges are giving her a 10, and all you can come up with is: "It's not enough!" or the even lamer, "It's too much!" I have to wonder what's going on.

Everyone who knows me, knows I adore Dmitry. Last season, he was paired with the sadly uncoordinated Holly Madison, and even I couldn't bring myself to vote for them. But now that he's paired with the beautiful, talented Mya, (their chemistry is freakin' unbelievable!) all I can say is that they better win.


Sunday, October 11, 2009

Bunco, the new Poker

Great video with Naomi Judd talking about Bunco!

Besides being a great time for everyone involved, Bunco is a natural for fund raisers. In Bunco Babes Gone Wild, my characters host a Black Tie Bunco fundraiser to raise money for the town's new rec center. But real live groups across the country play Bunco to raise money for breast cancer research (which gives me an idea for my own group) and I can't think of a better cause.

FYI check out the "ref" in the background. It totally cracks me up! Bunco disputes!


Wednesday, October 07, 2009

It's a book!



After months of wondering whether or not the Cover Gods were going to be kind to me, I finally got a look at my upcoming book. And I'm thrilled to say, I love it!
I first saw the cover for Bunco Babes Gone Wild back in January, so it's not like I was clueless as to how it would look. But seeing the cover on a computer screen is way different than seeing it in person. In person, it's just so... vibrant. So alive. It just screams BEACH! And for me, there's no better place in the world to be:)

Monday, October 05, 2009

Weekend Roundup

I was supposed to clean out my closet this weekend. You know, the one I write in? I even took pictures of the closet as "before" shots. Which I've done in the past to use as motivation to help get my butt in gear. It didn't work. Either time. And I'm not posting them this time until I have some "after" shots to show how industrious I am!

So, my Seminoles lost. Again. To Boston College???? All I can say is we SUCK. But I still love my Noles. We just have to get our act together.

That said, I took a trip to Hogtown yesterday (Gainesville) to visit the middle son because it was Parents Weekend. We couldn't spend the entire weekend there because it just so happened to also be Homecoming for the youngest daughter. She looked so pretty in her dress! It's always rough being torn between 2 kids events. Can the Universe not plan things out a little better next time please?


Saturday, October 03, 2009

Tall, Blond and Handsome


This post is for all of you out there googling tall, blonde, handsome men. You know who you are.

A few months ago (or maybe it was longer) I wrote a post about handsome blonde guys. As opposed to the tall, dark and handsome guys. Besides "Cuban baby shower" it's one of the most popular google searches that lead to my blog.

Recently, I answered a quiz somewhere on the blogosphere that asked how you liked your heroes: blonde, dark haired or red haired. Yeah, you guessed it. The dark haired guys won by a margin of like 80%. Still, there's something to be said about those blondies. The heroes in my first 2 books have dark hair. But my current wip features a blond hero a little a la Curtis Stone.

Friday, October 02, 2009

September Contest Winner!



My September contest winner is Nicole P!

Last month was pimp my critique partners contest month. Which means Nicole is getting a copy of Can't Stand the Heat and Bite Me! The only thing Nicole had to do to enter was be a member of my newsletter community.

Congratulations, Nicole. I know you're going to love these reads.

And don't forget about my October contest. Take my Which Bunco Babe Are you? quiz and enter a chance to win a signed book from yours truly and a $50 gift certificate to Borders.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Maria and Ree: 365 Days, Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl Gone Cuban


Hee hee... I wonder what Pioneer Woman would think if I did a rip off of Julie and Julia using her upcoming cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks- Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl.

I have to admit, I've never bought a cookbook in my life (except the occasional one bought from a charity organization). Cooking for me has traditionally been like housework. Something that has to get done or else. The or else in my case would be the rebellion of 3 children and a husband (who, God love 'em, does more than his share of housework and child rearing, but actually admitted to me the other day he didn't know how to turn on our oven).

I will also admit that (probably to the horror of my good pal Louisa) I had never even heard of the term "foodie" until the RWA National Convention in Dallas back in 2007. I was hanging out at the bar with friends and someone used the word "foodie" and I asked, "what's that?" I was met with a multitude of blank stares that had me sweating with the memory of 5th grade science class in Ascension Catholic School when I raised my hand to ask Sister Immaculata how humans could be mammals when we didn't feed our young (yes, the memory of the stunned looks and gasps of my classmates is still seered in my brain.) Suffice it to say that I had a VERY sheltered childhood:) And believe me, the next afternoon at recess, my pals filled me in on the facts of life. At least all they knew about, anyway.

But I digress. So while I could never be termed a foodie, I am definitely a fan of Pioneer Woman's recipes. Which means I'll be buying her book when it comes out at the end of the month. Her photography (of which I'm sure they'll be plenty of) will be worth the buy alone. Plus, there's all those lovely recipes (her chicken spaghetti casserole is to die for).

Maria and Ree: 365 Days, Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl Gone Cuban.

I actually kind of like how that sounds!
 

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