Cuban Egg Nog

Blogging about Creme de Vie (or Cuban eggnog) over at the Stiletto Gang today. Recipe included!
Here's the link. And Feliz Navidad!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I'm heading out of town to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family. This is where we will be. Yep, I'm excited!

I have so many things to be thankful for this holiday. My family is all healthy and that's the biggest blessing anyone can hope for.

Oh, and I'm also thankful that JR and Karina won Dancing With the Stars last night! Because if they hadn't... well, let's just say there would have been one very disgruntled fan.

Today, I'm blogging over at Girlfriends Book Club where I'm talking about how grateful I am to be a 21st century writer. And on Turkey Day I'll be at the Stiletto Gang.

See you on Monday!

Writing short stories

Today, I'm over at the Stiletto Gang talking about how I learned to write a short story.

My first published short story will come out this November 11 in the winter anthology, Sleigh Ride. You can read all about it right here.

Isn't the cover lovely?

Making Progress with Truffles

Anyone who has ever met Truffles Geraci will agree she is one hot mess. This is her Halloween picture from last year. She is dressed as a pumpkin, and yes she is one cute hot mess, but still there you go.

Yesterday I got some advice from my pals at The Stiletto Gang on Truffles' latest problem (ie: not wanting to go on walks anymore). Thanks for the all the great advice, ladies! I did crate her yesterday afternoon, and that seemed to help.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Why Writers need other writers

Today I'm over at the Stiletto Gang talking about how writers need other writers.

Oh, and I'm also talking about my dream kitchen. Here it is. Isn't it pretty?

What's in a title?

Today I'm over at the Stiletto Gang, talking about how the title of a book influences whether or not you buy it. Come on over and join me!

Where I'll be this week

Working hard at my computer trying to finish The Ugly Girlfriend. I've got my pub date- August 2012, which is awesome because I was really hoping for a summer release!

Meanwhile, this week, I'll be blogging at the Stiletto Gang on Thursday and at Magical Musings on Friday.

Hope you can stop by!

No More Sagging Middles

Today, I'm over at Romance Divas doing a workshop on sagging middles. Or rather how to avoid them in our stories. If you're not a member of Romance Divas, and you write romance, then why haven't you joined? It's free and a great place to mingle with other writers and learn craft. To get to the workshop, just join (did I already tell you that it's free?) and go to forums, then to Workshops and Conferences, and then to NGTCC (Not Going to Conference Conference).

I'm also at the Stiletto Gang talking voice (busy girl, aren't I?) Since writing that blog, I've learned that Javier Colon has won The Voice. Congratulations, Javier! Dia was my favorite, but you were a close second!

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????

What Amanda Hocking and Barry Eisler can teach us

Today, I've over at the Stiletto Gang talking about Survival of the Smartest. Or what Amanda Hocking and Barry Eisler can teach us about self-publishing. It's a changing world out there and we have to adapt.

Beautiful Disaster giveaway

The very talented Laura Spinella is over at the Stiletto Gang talking about her fabulous debut novel Beautiful Disaster. She's also giving away one free copy of her book to one commenter (comments open till Sunday, noon). All you have to do is go right here.

Laura is a fellow Berkley author and Girlfriends Book Club sister and her debut novel is getting some big buzz. It's also set in Georgia and I love me some Southern women's fiction. Here's the scoop!


Mia Wells is poised to finalize the deal that will make her eco-friendly career goals a reality. The moment is interrupted when an unexpected phone call ushers in a tremulous past. The man she’s always loved, the one who abandoned her years before, has mysteriously resurfaced.

Set in the Deep South amid magnolia leaves and the innocence of college life, Beautiful Disaster begins with Flynn’s arrival. He’s a man with a doubtful past, half a name, and no ties to anything earthbound, except Mia. For a year they have the kind of love affair a man like him inspires. Mia trusts him with her life. It’s a precarious leap of faith when she learns that he’s a fugitive on the run. For the next twelve years she keeps his secrets, long after Flynn vanishes, devastating her. Succumbing to the common sense she once defied, Mia eventually marries. Michael Wells is a wonderful man: patient, successful, driven. She does love him; who wouldn’t?

Never anticipating Flynn’s return, Mia does her best to put the past behind her. It’s a bittersweet truth as she must admit to a love and a passion that has never died. Yet, the future is grim as a gravely injured Flynn lingers, his dark past hovering like a storm. When he finally recovers, the puzzle unfolds. Flynn’s recollections are sketchy, piecing together the years and moments leading up to his accident. A smart man for whom honor has been a nemesis, Flynn unravels the truth: one well meaning lie has altered three lives, creating futures that should have never been. As the past and present reconcile, Mia’s what ifs are endless.

Filled with sweetness and suspense, Beautiful Disaster is an achingly powerful tale—the kind of love story each of us wishes was ours to tell.

Oscars!

Today, I'm over at the Stiletto Gang blogging about the Oscars. Personal favorites and worst moments ever. Check it out right here.

You pierce my soul

My pal, Susan McBride (author of the fabulous The Cougar Club) is over at the Stiletto Gang today talking about favorite romantic reads. She was seen on Great Day St. Louis on Valentine's Day and selected The Boyfriend of the Month Club as a favorite read this year. Yay! You can read the post and see the video right here.

Susan did a poll recently on Facebook and her readers selected 5 of their favorite romantic reads of all time.

I think mine is without a doubt, Persuasion, by Jane Austen. The love letter Captain Wentworth writes to Anne at the end of the story is a two hankie read!

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago.

Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine.

I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men.

Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in F. W.

I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."
Persuasion, Jane Austen

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be in Pittsburgh. Pictures to come (if I don't freeze to death, that is!)