I love you more than my luggage

Recently a good friend (Sybil, you know who you are) said this expression to me on Facebook while we were discussing who we liked/didn't like on American Idol. As first I was like, "huh?" Then she said she was quoting Steel Magnolias and I was like, oh, now I get it. I'd never heard the expression because I've never seen the movie all the way through. Yes, I know, it's heresy, I'm probably like the only woman in the world (except for Mel, I think) who doesn't like this icon of female cinematography, but I can't help myself. Not sure why I don't like it, but I don't. I can't get past the first 30 minutes. I also don't like Chocolat. There. I feel so much better admitting that.

So now that would mean almost nothing except since hearing this expression, I've heard it at least 3 other times in less than a week. What is up with that? Have I been hearing it all along and just not "getting" it. I think that's probably it. And while I'm at it, what does it mean exactly? I love you more than my luggage. Does anyone really love their luggage? I love you more than my Louis Vuitton. Now that expression means something.

My Weird Post

Today, I'm over at the Stiletto Gang, hanging out with my fellow writers and talking about VOICE. You know what voice I'm talking about. Your author voice. Go check out the post right here. I pay a little tribute to Eleanor Brown and her fabulous new book The Weird Sisters.

I have to say, the first thing that struck me about that title, was well, the title. If you've read my latest book The Boyfriend of the Month Club, then you know I like to use the word "weird" and I like writing "weird" characters.

Mike Geraci likes the word weird too. He uses it all the time, completely out of context. Such as:

Mike Geraci: "Wow, that was a weird movie."

me: "Didn't you like it?"

Mike Geraci: "Well, yeah, I liked it."

me: "What was weird about it?"

Mike Geraci: "I don't know. The whole thing." (he says with a weird vague look on his face)

And while this might be off topic, can I just say that's it a little weird that I'm finding Ralph Macchio completely cute and sexy this season on Dancing with the Stars? That's right. I have a weird crush on Daniel-son. Can you believe he's 49????

Happy Monday Morning

Happy Monday morning (you know how I love Mondays!)

This particular Monday is extremely awesome. Besides being Dancing with the Stars night , this Monday signifies the official beginning of "warm" weather season. Here in Florida we have a pretty much non-existent spring. We go from what we consider cold to hot in just a couple of weeks (sometimes days). Personally, I consider spring in Tallahassee the short time that the millions of azaleas bloom. Once the blooms start to fade, then it's "almost summer." Another sign? Love bugs. If you don't know what a love bug is, then consider yourself a happy car owner.

The other big sign that it's almost summer is the end of Lent. The Geraci clan celebrated Easter yesterday in the TB (Tampa Bay) area, starting with mass at St. Francis of Assisi in Seffner, followed by an unbelievably awesome buffet at Jackson's Bistro at Harbour Island, then rounded up our trip back to Tally with a stop in Gainesville to wish Only Son good luck with his finals this week.

So yay for Monday, yay for almost summer, and yay for what promises to be a terrific week (culminating with the big Senior Prom for Daughter #2. Did I tell you that I'm going to be hosting 9 high school couples for Prom dinner? More on that later...)

Meanwhile, check out this awesome Earth Day banner Daughter #2 and her pals made as part of their AP Environmental Science class project. I took a secret snapshot of it while it was drying in our garage. Pretty cool, no?

Good Friday and The Weird Sisters

Ah, I have been such a bad blogger. Can't believe an entire week has gone by without blogging, but I have been basking in the glow of my new sale (aka spending way too much time on the computer and emails). That said, Good Friday, everyone!

Back in the day (that would be my youth) Good Friday was always the bleakest of bleakest days. Being raised a strict Catholic it meant no school (yay!), no tv, no radio (boo!) no fun, no meat, and going to church at exactly 3pm. The best part of Good Friday was that it meant that Lent was almost over.

I'll admit my giving up of the Holy Trinity (diet coke, bread, and chocolate) has not gone well. I did great for the first 2 weeks of Lent, but then fell off the wagon and have had some of each. However, I have had much less of each (especially the diet coke, which was the hardest) so I feel pretty positive over all.

Tonight is my book club night and we're discussing The Weird Sisters. Great read, btw! I will definitely being taking pics and posting on that, so stay tuned.

Want a chance to win another great read? FREE? (Did I say the magic word?) Then hop by the Stiletto Gang where fellow Girlfriends Book Club member Cindy Jones is giving away a copy of her new book My Jane Austen Summer. Just leave a comment by Sunday. How simple is that?

Happy Easter, everyone! May the Bunny bring you lots of chocolate!

Good News, Bad News

I'll start with the good news first. I sold another book! Here's the blurb that went to Publishers Weekly:

Maria Geraci's THE UGLY GIRLFRIEND, after accidentally finding out she's the "ugly friend" in her crowd, Emma tries to channel her inner swan, only to discover that some labels are hard to shed, to Wendy McCurdy at Berkley, in a nice deal, by Deidre Knight of the Knight Agency. (World English)

Yay! I'm so very excited about this book I could burst.

Now, for the bad news. It's official. All My Children has been cancelled. I blogged about it over at The Girlfriends Book Club. Sigh.

Is Kirstie cursed?

I should say not! How could Kirstie be cursed when she has hottie Maks as her partner? But twice in a row now she's had a mishap and the tabloids are a buzz with Kirstie's bad luck. And if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about it's Dancing with the Stars, which imo is having a rather excellent season.

Last week, Maks pulled a thigh muscle (he!) during their rumba and fell, bringing Kirstie down with him. He apologized profusely and was quite the gentleman. I'll admit, in 12 seasons of DWTS I've never seen Maks so taken with his celebrity partner. Not even the ones he was supposedly romantically linked to. Kirstie is old enough to be Maks' mother and is no size 6, but honestly, I see a whole lot of chemistry between them. Not in a romantic way, but in the kindred spirit way. I think Maks genuinely likes Kirstie and it shows in their performance (when he's not dropping her, that is).

This week, Kirstie lost a shoe during their waltz. Personally, I'd like to see Maks lose his shirt more (which happens quite a bit, much to Judge Len's chagrin, although not enough for me). But despite these little setbacks I still think Kirstie and Maks are the couple to beat for the big Mirror Ball trophy coveted by B Grade celebrities and professional dancers alike.

My prediction for the final four? Kirstie and Maks, Hines and Kim, Ralph and Karina, and Chelsea and Mark. Final winner? It's any one's guess!

Fat Boy gets in a fight

This is a picture of Lucky Geraci aka Fat Boy. He wandered up to our house about 8 years ago and plunked himself down in our yard. He looked like he'd just escaped from Auschwitz he was so skinny. He wasn't wearing any tags (and I'll be honest, I didn't think about taking him to the vet to see if he had one of those chips inside him.) He had been declawed and was obviously starving.

Now, I'm not a cat person, but I'd been tricked a few years earlier into getting a cat (Lizzie aka Heartless Bitch) by my two daughters, so I wasn't totally clueless about cats. Urged by Daughter #2 to "do the right thing" I put some food and water out by the garage. Of course, the dang cat gobbled it all up. So I put some more food out there. Repeat previous sentence (the dang cat gobbled it all up again).

Later that night it began to storm. Now Daughter #1 joined in the fight to "save" the cat. Clueless Son, who was probably off playing Nintendo, did not join in the argument one way or another (clearly he is destined to be a dog-man). So because I still have a heart, I took the cat in. Hence she (we later found out he was a neutered male) was bestowed with the name "Lucky."

Lucky spent the next 3 days in the laundry room lying on top of my warm vibrating dryer (which saw a lot of action in those days because I have 3 kids), alternately eating, using the litter box, and sleeping. After about 2 weeks, he looked more like a fat prison guard at Auschwitz and Mike Geraci bestowed the name "Fat Boy" on him and we have loved him ever since. However, we cannot keep the dang cat inside. He craves the outdoors. So he's an indoor/outdoor cat with no claws. Ay caramba. If I had a teenager who was driving I couldn't be more worried (oh, wait, I have 2 of those as well).

Speed forward to the next 8 years. Lucky now roams the neighborhood like he's King Cat. Mostly he guards our front yard, but he also likes to go over to the neighbor across the street because there are horses in the lot behind their house. He's had one snake fight that I know of (because I witnessed it and subsequently killed the snake myself) but other than that he's pretty peaceful. So imagine my surprise when he came home one day with a part of his tail scratched. I figured he had scraped it trying to squeeze in between the fence. I put some Neosporin on it and kept an eye on it. Within a few days it had begun to abscess and all the hair on his tail was falling off. This means a visit to Dr. Steve (local veterinarian.)

According to Dr.Steve, Lucky was in a tomcat fight. What? My sweet old Lucky is running around fighting at night? It appears so. A shot of good old fashioned antibiotics and few days later, Lucky is on the mend. Of course, he still goes out several times a day, although I've noticed he's now hanging out in the backyard more. Still, it's weird knowing he has this secret life I know nothing about. It makes me wonder what my teenagers are up to...

This is a bad picture of Fat Boy's tail, which is healing very nicely.

Want to get published?

How would you like a chance to be featured in a great winter anthology alongside other women fiction authors?

“Sleigh Ride” is an anthology of short stories by women for publication in the fall of 2011 as a print book and e-book by Buzz Books USA, an independent press and promotions company in the Midwest. The book is also a fundraiser for education and awareness of domestic violence with $1 of each book sale being donated to the cause. Stories will be gathered via a contest and judged by professional writers in other states. The anthology will include original works by published authors (yes, I 'm one of them!) as well as aspiring authors who have entered and won the contest. A minimum of ten stories/authors will be included in the anthology.

Here's the link to the complete 411.

The End

NO April Fools Joke here. Although I do wish everyone good luck with their pranks today;)

Mike Geraci and I got into a little snit over our morning coffee on who was taking the dog and the cat (Charlie and Lucky) to the vet this morning. I swear, last night he told me HE was going to do it. He said I had said I'd do it.Guess who won? I think instead of apologizing for my crankiness I will blame the whole thing on an April Fools joke. I'll let you know Monday if I got away with it.

Okay, so on to this morning's post.

As writers we always pay so much attention to our opening lines. It, along with the first few pages, is what draws the reader in, so we spend countless hours editing that first line and making sure it "pops." But what about our last lines?

Fellow GBC sister Ernessa T. Carter is over at the Girlfriends Book Club talking about last lines. You can check her post out right here.

For fun, I thought I'd post the last lines to my own books.

"I play Bunco on Thursdays. Every Thursday. No exceptions. It's sort of like my religion."
He smiled. "I know. I get it now."

Because it is a truth universally acknowledged that when a woman gets a diamond engagement ring, she must show it off to her closest friends.

He was just Joe. And that was more than good enough for Grace.