Want to write a better book?

Today, I'm over at the Girlfriends Book Club talking about how to write a better book. Check it out here.

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!

Sleigh Ride Giveaways

In order to celebrate the arrival of the new winter anthology, Sleigh Ride, there will be lots of giveaways going on this week

I've already given away a copy on Magical Musings, and today, there's another giveaway over at the Girlfriends Book Club blog. Just click here to comment and be entered.

To celebrate our launch, we're doing several great contests including the 7 Sleighs/7 Days of Giveaways contest (now on day 4) as well as the Big Stuffed Sleigh Contest that ends Nov. 30th ($150 value.)

Sleigh Ride is a collection of short stories, all involving a sleigh ride. My story is titled Noche Buena and is of course, a romance, which was lots of fun to write and involves characters from my next work in progress (to be titled later!). Here's an excerpt:

North of Havana, the town’s only Cuban restaurant, was the last trip on Maggie’s “Goodwill Tour of the Fruitcakes.” Every December 23rd, a representative of the Daughters of the Spanish Explorers (the town’s most prominent women’s club) brought a fruitcake and a Christmas card to all the local merchants. This year, as the club’s secretary, the task had fallen on Maggie. She’d purposely kept North of Havana as her last stop. It had given her something to look forward to.

The smell of simmering pork and sofrito made Maggie’s mouth water. She scanned the empty dining room with its scrubbed down Formica tables and brightly colored walls with the mural scenes of old Havana’s Malecón. Nestor had painted those murals himself.

She would never forget the first time she laid eyes on Nestor Vega. It was two years ago that she’d taken Lily, her Bison Frise, for her nightly stroll through down town when she’d spotted the lights in the abandoned restaurant building. Greg, Maggie’s brother-in-law and president of the First Coast Bank and Trust, had mentioned someone had bought the building, but he hadn’t given her details. As a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, Maggie’s curiosity had been aroused. She had put on her best “welcome to Old Explorers Bay” smile and prepared to greet the newest member of the business community, the Cuban immigrant from Miami who’d moved to Old Explorer’s Bay to open his own restaurant.

Faded jeans. No shirt. No shoes. Standing on a ladder and painting the restaurant walls fast and furiously to the sounds of Celia Cruz blaring from a portable CD player. Nestor, with his rough good looks and suave voice with the accent. He was Javier Bardem and Antonio Banderas wrapped up like the finest tobacco leaves to form the perfect Cuban cigar.

Books for everyone

There's two new books out this week from fellow GBC authors! The cool thing is that there's something for everyone in the house here.

Exposure by Therese Fowler.
Amelia Wilkes’ strict father does not allow her to date, but that doesn’t stop the talented, winsome high school senior from carrying on a secret romance with her classmate, Anthony Winter. Desperately in love, the two envision a life together and plan to tell Amelia’s parents when she turns eighteen and is legally an adult. Anthony’s mother, Kim Winter, who teaches at their school, knows—and keeps—their secret. But the couple’s passion is exposed sooner than planned: Amelia’s father, Harlan, is shocked and infuriated to find naked pictures of Anthony on his daughter’s computer. Just hours later, Anthony is arrested.

Despite Amelia’s frantic protests, Harlan uses his wealth and influence with local law enforcement and the media to label Anthony a deviant who preyed on his innocent daughter. Spearheaded by a zealous prosecutor anxious to turn the case into a public crusade against “sexting,” the investigation soon takes an even more disturbing and destructive turn.
As events spiral wildly out of control and the scandalous story makes national news, Amelia and Anthony risk everything in a bold and dangerous plan to clear their names and end the madness once and for all.

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And now for the ten and under crowd: Looking for a great series for your elementary school kid? Then look no more. The Sisters 8 by Lauren Baratz-Logsted is a great series to introduce the kiddos to. Book 7 Rebecca's Rashness came out this week.

8 Little girls (octuplets, actually. Can you imagine?) mysteriously lose their parents and must band together and use their talents to find out what happened to them. Sounds terrific, doesn't it?

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.

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.

Fear and writing

Today, I'm over at the Girlfriends Book Club talking about going for the fear. Check it out right here (hey, I rhymed!)

Sex scenes

Happy Valentine's Day! It's rather apropo that last Saturday over at the Girlfriends Book Club, the topic was sex scenes and how to write them. I sure had fun reading all the advice. You might too!

Handling Bad Reviews

Today's Saturday topic over at the Girlfriends Book Club is reviews, and how authors handle bad ones. I have to say bad reviews used to really get to me. But over the course of 3 books I've had to step back and see a review for what it is. One person's opinion.

I remember hearing Susan Elizabeth Phillips say at a workshop once that bad reviews can be liberating because the truth is you can't please everyone, so you shouldn't even try. I love that advice. And I love Susan!

The truth is all books get bad reviews. Even the big ones. Especially the big ones. The more people who read your book, the more likely you are to have someone (or lots of someones) not "get" the book.

In the summer of 1950, Alfred A. Knopf Inc. turned down the English-language rights to a Dutch manuscript after receiving a particularly harsh reader’s report. The work was “very dull,” the reader insisted, “a dreary record of typical family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions.” Sales would be small because the main characters were neither familiar to Americans nor especially appealing. “Even if the work had come to light five years ago, when the subject was timely,” the reader wrote, “I don’t see that there would have been a chance for it.”

That book of course, was The Diary of Anne Frank.

Enough said.

Bunco Flamingo!

Last night my Bunco group, the fabulous Bunco Broads of Tallahassee had our annual Christmas get together. This is the month we don't play Bunco. We just eat and party. And drink Jingle Juice. Jingle Juice is terrific. Don't ask me what's in it, but trust me on this.

We also do our annual ornament exchange. Except this year we changed things up and instead of exchanging ornaments, we did white elephant gifts. Only the gifts were good! This is what I got:

Yes, it's a Deck the Palms Dip Bowl and Spreader. Plus a Deck the Palms Bottle stopper set! I had to fight like a tiger to keep this from leaving my sweaty palms last night but the struggle was worth it! The Flamingo is my new totum and no one was brave enough to tussle me for it.

FREE BOOKS

If I haven't mentioned it before, let me tell you again. All month long over at Girlfriends Book Club, we're giving away free books. All you have to do is scroll on over right here and leave a comment. It's as simple as that. Today's free book is courtesy of the lovely Brenda Janowitz, the author of Jack with a Twist and Scot on the Rocks.

Oh, and I haven't forgotten about the movie thing. Today's quote comes from Home Alone 2, Lost in New York. Which as I've said, is mediocre compared to the original Home Alone, but still worth the watching just for the hotel scenes.

Angry mom (fabulous Catherine O'Hara) "What kind of idiots do you have working here?"

Desk clerk, as she, Tim Curry (playing the Concierge and Rob Schneider playing the bell hop) all proudly puff out their chests: "The finest in New York!"

Holiday Movie Countdown

I love love love holiday movies. So I've decided to do a month of holiday movie watching. I know what a hardship. I started last night with a Home Alone mini-marathon. I love Home Alone! Home Alone 2 not so much, but the scenes with Tim Curry more than make up for blah-ish plotline.

I forgot how many great liners there were in the original. The one that got the most laughs last night at the Geraci house? When the adults were in the airplane on their way to France and they're talking about how Kevin was left behind. Mom (played wonderfully by Catherine O'Hara) is beating herself up. And Uncle Frank (gotta love/hate him!) sighs and says "If it makes you feel any better, I forgot my reading glasses."

Hee hee... Oh well, I guess you had to be there!

Happy December 1st everyone, and don't forget to check out Marilyn Brant's blog where she's giving away a copy of my new book!

And... if you want to get inspired AND win a couple of free books by the fabulous Lauren Baratz-Logsted, go to the Girlfriends Book Club and leave a comment.

I'm off to Publix! Happy December, everyone!

Want some writing advice?

Then go to Girlfriends Book Club, where some of today's smartest women writers are offering up their 'If I knew then, what I know now' advice (I'm one of them by the way. Not that I consider myself that smart, but hey, I've put myself in good company, so I guess I'm not too dumb!)

And don't forget, I'm giving away the last available ARC of The Boyfriend of the Month Club. Just go my Facebook fan page and leave a comment by Monday morning 6 am sharp. The winner will get my book an entire month before the rest of the world does!

Neither a Melanie nor a Scarlet be

Today, I'm over at the Girlfriends Book Club talking about female characters. I'd love it if you stopped by!

In which Lauren makes a book pyramid

Lauren Baratz-Logstead (fellow Girlsfriend Book Club member and TKA sister) has made a book pyramid (kind of like the food pyramid that the ADA puts out, but with less calories). It's not only humorous, but dead on. Go read it here at the BiblioBuffet.

My crick in the neck

I woke up this morning with a massive spasm in my neck. Did I sleep wrong? Probably, although I suspect it has more to do with the hours I spent at my computer yesterday (am really making headway on the new novel!)

As we speak, I can only move my head to the right. Well, okay, I can move it to the left some too, but only because Mike Geraci has spent the last ten minutes using his superb super massage/rolfing techniques on me.

Yesterday, I gave away an ARC for my upcoming book, BOTMC. The winner was announced in my edited post on Girlfriends Book Club. Congrats to Sarah!

Plans for the day: keep writing on the new novel. Go mail my Fresh Fiction contest winner her goodies (a signed copy of Bunco Babes Gone Wild and a gift card to Borders), run to Publix to buy some more Motrin (best drug in the world) and make a quiche. I'm not a huge quiche fan, but I've decided I'm going to make a really moist and delicious one today. Oh, and finish watching Letters to Juliet. I started watching it last night and fell asleep. Not because it was bad or anything, but because I was tired. It started out very cute and I really really want to like this movie, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

ARC give away!

It's Monday! And you know how much I love Mondays (no, really, I do, I'm one of those people).

Today I'm over at Girlfriends Book Club, talking about writing romance in the closet. I'm also excited to be giving away an ARC for my December release, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, so go on over and leave a comment right here. I really love this book so much and I can't wait to hear what people think of it!

Real Life versus my closet life

My closet life for those of you who aren't aware, is the the metaphor I've given to that part of my life that involves my writing. In other words, the made up part of my life. The one where the people don't really exist. Lately, I haven't been spending too much time there.

Part of the reason is because, to tell you the truth, I'm simply worn out. Writing my last book took a huge toll on me. A few days ago over at Girlfriends Book Club we discussed how long it takes to write a book. The consensus was somewhere between a few months but less than nine years (heh).

I've written a book in six months and it's a struggle. Not because I can't finish a book in that time. But because I really need time between my drafts to let my words marinate. Someone asked me once what I thought of finally reading my book in print. The answer was, "I don't read my books in print." Once I send off the last draft I never read the book again. I simply can't. If I can't edit it, then I can't read it. Because I'll always find something that can be improved. I think a lot of writers feel the same way.

So... last night (after I got back from Bunco!) I sat down to open up my latest manuscript (tentatively titled Girlfriends are Forever) in which I've been struggling heartily because I haven't found the right opening. Well, I'm happy to say that I think I found the right beginning. Which means, it's back to my closet life and I think I'm happy about that.

More Book give aways, and go Noles!

How long does it take you to write a book? Weigh in over at Girlfriends Book Club and you might win a copy of Allison Winn Scotch's latest The One that I want.

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone! I'm starting my weekend by watching the Noles. Yay for college football!

Win a copy of She's Gone Country

Why did I eat so many cookies yesterday? Oh well. Time to get back on the straight and narrow. I am going to Jazzercise on Monday. And I will have my final proofs done by then too. Even if it kills me. Hopefully it will not.

Don't forget to write a comment under the Tuesday give away post if you want to win a free copy of All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins. Give away ends tonight. And if you're into free books (and excellent blogging) then I suggest you head over to Girlfriends Book Club where Karin is giving away a copy of Jane Porter's latest, She's Gone Country. All you have to do is leave a comment with your favorite country song;)

Another give away!

Because I like to promote books, especially free ones, I thought I'd let you all know about the wonderful give away going on over at the Girlfriends Book Club (awesome blog, btw). Melissa Senate, whose post made my eyes sting a bit with unshed tears is giving away an ARC of her upcoming novel The Love Goddess' Cooking School. Just drop by here and comment and you could be the lucky winner.

Also... don't forget to post a comment under the Tuesday give away featuring Eloisa James' new book A Kiss at Midnight. I promise you, it's fabulous!