Blogging With Dayana Knight

Well I just signed up for October 27th to blog with Dayana Knight. Dayana is a sweetheart and a wonderful, talented, author whose books just amaze me.
I met her at a Florida Romance Writers meeting, (a great group of talented authors), and have admired and loved her since the moment we met.
I just can't wait to have her latest release Curse in hand to read!
So please everyone, come and take a look at my first interview blog! I hope I can think of something stunning to say. Ha!
I also can't wait for the release of my book in Digital on 1/2/09 and print 6/27/09, this has been the thrill and most wonderful accomplishment of my life. I hope that the readers like it, so I can continue to write sequels to 'Tripping Through Time'. Be well, and keep on readin'

My Mountain

We own a very small piece of property on the top of a mountain in North Carolina. It's beautiful there. Lush green trees cover the winding roads that lead up to the top. The first time I was there it had nearly impassible, narrow, overgrown, weedy and we had to use a four wheel drive vehicle to get there. But when I got there I was hooked.

Off in the distance there are more mountains. The colors change the farther away it is. Way, way, in the distance they were almost a deep purple. All around me the sounds and sights of nature flooded my senses. The deep earthy smell of fallen branches and leaves released with each step I took. My big black dog sat there like the king of the mountain, now tired from chasing rabbits or whatever other wild creature he found. I knew then and there I was at home. It just hit me, the beauty, the quiet, the isolation, and the feeling that I was a small part of all of this overwhelmed me.

I felt a sense of stepping back in time. I wondered if I had stepped on the same soil that someone years ago had walked. They must have walked because I doubt that a horse could get up the steep inclines. Or maybe they followed trails made by animals. Had anyone ever had a cabin up there? Possibly a trapper lived there with his wife. Gnawing a life from from the land, having children, loving, and living. I was awed at the thought of it.

Of course anywhere in the mountains of North Carolina is like stepping into the past.

So that's when I knew it. I was home. Someday god willing I will be able to build a home there, living with the ghosts of the past and hoping they will share my mountain and let me make history too.

Life Around Me

I sat down to try and do some writing, but I got lost in life around me.

My canary started singing a haunting tune as he sits two feet away from me on his perch. If I close you eyes I can bring my blood pressure down at least 20 points.

Then the sound of the water fountains in my pool, distracts me. I have a lush, emerald, jungle, in my back yard. Huge banana, pink flowering pentas, palms, and a large avocado tree, surround the aqua blue 15X30 pool outside of my sliding glass back door. We put a lot of money into the yard when we both had jobs. Now when I close my eyes I get another 10 points off the BP.

I smell the jasmine it's sweet cloying sense drugs me.

While my eyes are still closed my soft coated, black, German Shepard sits at my feet. My hands use another sense that brings another 10 points at least.

I open my eyes and look at the overwhelming collection of tropicals outside my door. I have achieved a measure of peace that frees my soul. Not to mention another drop in BP.

Then it hits. A wave of power so fierce my heart slams in my chest from the sudden appearance.
the TV sound blasts a mind altering commercial not ten feet from me. The instant sound of the speakers sending strong shocks through my system.

I look up and see it, I thought I had more time, I thought I could heal part of my stressed soul and be more creative. Write more--dream--accomplish.... Those three words undo me, my BP raises 50 points, my body is on flight or fight mode and I suddenly deflate.

I can't write now. The inspiration has left me. The drudgery of repetition brings a huge sigh from deep within me as I rise.

The smell of sweat is repugnant. Black sludge in my kitchen sink has hands are washed with orange degreaser.

He's back..he's so loud, and bossy today, and he says it again, "What's for dinner". He had to work on the car and he hates it and is torturing me because he feels like it. He is really pisssing me off. Another 15 points up, up, up.

Men, my sister always says, it's a matter of finding the least of the worst.

Well maybe tomorrow, if I make it. I'll write some more, (grin) I begin dinner and he really will not like it I can guarantee it. That's the thing with power. The ultimate revenge is in the hands of the cook!

Life in Florida-the Change of Seasons

Florida is a beautiful state. There are bright people here despite the hanging chads. It made us mad too!
Certainly in the dead of a six month long spell of freezing weather, this is paradise. The ocean and palm trees, this is the place to be.

The one thing I miss about not being up North is the wonderful change of seasons. Here in Florida the change is almost imperceptible to anyone who does not live here. It's so subtle in the fall. The first thing I notice is that the crystals I have hanging outside of the back sliding glass doors, will start to throw their rainbows across the room as they move in the breezes, flashing colors around the kitchen and living room in a kaleidoscope effect. The sun has begun to move lower in the sky and more to the south, as it does light finally hits the faceted leaded glass.

The next thing I notice is that at night it is not quite as humid. Usually nightfall doesn't provide much change in the oppression of sauna like heat. Even though it is insidious, it starts to be less stifling outside. There is the hint in the air of subtle change. Yes, the evenings are just a tad less humid. That's about it.

Winter brings less humidity and the chance of temperatures getting below eighty degrees. When you can open the windows it's winter. this is the time the natives bring out their winter coats in preparation for the maybe two or three nights it gets below fifty. Below forty five they break out the gloves.

Spring the heat begins again, till by summer you can fry a egg on your head outside. I haven't tried this, but I've felt the heat on my head and it sure seems like it could cook food. It's cooked my head several times already.

Now it's summer, my crystals are no longer shining into the house to brighten my day. By the time I get from my front door to the car my head is drenched. By the time the AC kicks in my hair lies in wet globs of sweat. I'm having hot flashes from the ninety five degree temps. and the ninety percent humidity. And God help us all there are hurricanes, Florida sticks out into the Atlantic like a thumb.

The only difference between me and the snow birds is the money to leave. How did native Floridians stand it before air conditioning. Can anybody tell me?

Today Was One Of Those Days

The first thing this morning I got a phone call, in which I was told that our vacation was ruined. The poor fellow we rented a cabin in NC for years from had gotten a divorce and the vindictive significant other took it as part of her settlement. Just to break the poor mans heart. He'd worked for years to build it up.

I love NC and finding out that we were not going to be able to go in October broke my heart. I have waited for a year to go and see our property cleared and redyed for the septic system. I was hoping my book sales could help pay to have it put in. Now after scrimping to save the money, we paid and waited for the contractor to do it. Now cleared land must look so much better to be able to view where to put your home. And it would show us what views we might have.

So I'm starting the day pretty bummed already.

Then I go to the Cracker Barrel to exchange my lamp which was purchased in December as a gift for me. The friend who bought it was with me. I had the box, and the charge receipt. I had previously spoken to a manager who told me, "No problem, just bring it in."

So as soon as I walk in I hear an obnoxious voice tell me that that lamp didn't come from this store. They never sold that in the store. So showing her the box with large Cracker Barrel logos, didn't convince her. Simply because she wanted to mess with me. She had an 'attitude' of the worst kind I have ever seen and was so obnoxious, she eventually had me in tears. I'm not done with her.

Next my car. My 1995 Ford Taurus with less than 51,000 miles on it, is messing up again.
The air conditioner had just been repaired, new tires, brakes checked and fluids changed.
Now the check engine light has started to come on, and the engine is missing.

So let me tell you, I had a day. I'm gonna go take a pill and go to sleep.

May tomorrow be another day, only better.

My Husband the Repairman

If something is broken he can fix it. I just gave him the shower cleaning thingee that just stopped working. I hope he can fix it. I hate to buy a new one and I have been pushing for the repair.
He recently fixed my car air conditioning. It took weeks, he's not the youngster he once was. Though I haven't told him so. Living in Florida without AC is like a sentence. By the time you get where you're going, your drenched in sweat. And I don't think a woman my age should sweat.
I haven't got an appliance that isn't 20 years old. That's one downside.
The biggest problem is that he is like the Charlie Brown cartoon character, Pig Pen. Stuff just falls off of him as he walks by. There are screwdrivers and various tools on the TV and saws, drills, etc., by the couch, front door, back door, everywhere.
The kitchen table is hard to find. I know that there is a coffee table under all the stuff.
Every time he starts a new project, out comes more junk. Metric tools and regular tools never find themselves in the tool box, cause he never puts anything away. So he can never find anything. He runs around the house like a madman yelling unintelligible comments under his breath.
When he worked on the roof one time, he got himself up there, and then screamed for two hours for me to get the tools he should have put up there. I am the queen of gofers.
After he finishes his latest project, maybe we can put some of this stuff I trip over away. I can't wait to sit on my couch again, to not need that little flashlight to see what's in the way. To not fall and break my neck, and to look at a neat organized and clean house. Ahhh.

Check that, the washer just broke.

Life is too short to waste on worry

My mother is a worrier, she has suffered the terrible pain of my fathers death at least twenty times. He gets sick, goes into the hospital and she is sure he will die. The fact that the doctor says he'll be okay she still worries. He is usually home the next day. I will say that she will not last long without him. They've been together that long.

And I have come to realize that there must be a worry gene. I will think of absolutely the worst possible scenario's, and none of them happen. I spend nites up until two am., just to worry about something. Mind you most of the time it never happens, but it is my job to worry.

How worrying helps is hard to say. The only thing I can think of it that it occupies my mind. I have nothing to fill the quiet with.

So I guess that's why God invented authors. Because there is nothing in this world that fills the time like a good book. Romance writer...take me away--

The Dentists office

Well, I'm on my way to the dentist. Those words are spoken every day by literally thousands of people. After working in dental offices for so long you'd think the words would mean nothing to me.

But the fear rises. It started back when I was a kid. That long dull needle in the mouth, the smell of the antibacterial solutions. The Drill! Don't forget the dreaded slow grinding drill. Those things are now replaced with disposable, sharp, needles. the sterilizing equipment is state of the art, and the high speed drills make short shrift of decay.

But the fact that they are in my mouth, near my face, my brain, and in a very sensitive area and nerve filled area, somehow makes it scary. I need my mouth.
Today I am just scheduled for a cleaning. Where a smiley fresh faced young female graduate from hygiene school, will attempt to make mincemeat of my gum's, while she scrapes away ugly tarter and stain.

Fluoride came a long way in preventing cavities, now we need something to keep that nasty, gooey, plaque from turning into the dreaded calculus.
If only it were so.

Well here I go, they better not find any cavities or else.

Junior, character in my novel

This is Junior, one of the main characters of my book, "Tripping Through Time". It is a time travel novel which takes place on the Lake Champlain Islands in Vermont. My heroine travels back from 1969 to the year 1869, to find love.

There is everything from barnyard animals to cats and dogs, and from Abenaki Indians to Irish Immigrants. I hope that my readers enjoy it.

Who could resist a doggy face like that.

Emails and when to press send

Today I learned a lesson. No matter how careful you think you are in sending an email, you should double think before you send one.
The first dumb thing I did was to make a political comment on one loop. Now grant you I didn't realize that it was going to the loop, but it did. I thought I was responding to an email sent to me, I should have checked again. See what I mean?
I want to do the right thing and get awfully upset when I mess up.

The second thing that happened was not really directed at me. I belong to a wonderful group of women who have a promotional blog site. One of the women there has had a lot of personal and professional nightmares in her life. She made the mistake of complaining about it on the loop for that group, constantly. Unfortunately she made just to many comments about her problems and some people are sick of it and don't want to hear it. My problem is that my soft heart felt to sorry for her, that I tried to help by giving support, and I feel that just added to the problem. I am so new to all this stuff, I didn't know any better, but I do

I think that one must learn where and when to vent and believe me I learned a lot on the subject today. People need positive input and that's is what they are looking for. We all have problems, but we need to know who and when to tell them too. Life is short, and I want to forget my problems, and everyone surely feels the same.

So I learned a lesson, don't send any email until you are sure you have the correct address in your mailbox. And try not to get too involved with others issues.

I feel like a dinosaur, things were different for me in my youth. People were different and maybe I should have been born so that I was an adult when "My Three Sons" was on TV. Life was different, you didn't have to worry about this kind of thing. The wasn't any internet then and the best you could do was make a phone call. But then again I remember being very young when there were party lines, people would listen to everyone's phone calls and then gab the latest. You learned a lot about what to say on a phone line. A lot of dirty laundry got aired that way. So emails are the party lines of the day.

Email away, but know that you are talking to potentially tons of people, and you'd do better to put your best foot forward. I think that's a life lesson, put your best out there and the best will come back to you.

So take it from me. Be very, very, careful when you decide to press that send button, think before you press SEND, you'll be glad you did.

Tell me the Truth!

There is one thing that people constantly do that just makes me crazy, they lie.
I catch them all the time, but I keep it to myself mostly, they get to defensive when confronted.
I understand a lie to protect someone. If a lie will save someone being upset over stupidity, or if it causes unnecessary hurt to tell the truth, lie.
If it makes your mom feel better to tell her you're fine, lie.
But don't lie to make yourself look better. Don't lie and make promises, you aren't going to keep. Don't try to make your mistakes look better by telling lies.
If I ask your opinion, I need the truth, or I wouldn't ask you. Don't gossip, in fact most gossip is based on cruel lies.
For me the truth is what makes you good to me. The truth even if it hurts me, is always better than a lie. I will eventually hear the truth, and I'll know you lied.
The problem with telling a lie is that your mind will forget it. The truth we always remember, a lie is often forgotten.
When my friend asked me what my biggest pet peeve is, this is what I told her. I told her I'd tell the world, so here it is my friend. I told you I don't lie.

Jealousy

I have to admit that when I have been listening to everyone talk I am jealous.

What a thrill it must be to meet all of those authors up on a pedestal above us. The ones who put romance books on the real books list. Far cry from the old dime store novels of years ago.

Someone sat near Nora Roberts, Beth Trissel, the same dynamo who was a runner up in the Golden Hearts award. The thrill must have had her heart going double time.
Mona Risk met friends from all over and hobnobbed with romance royalty. Dressed up in lovely gowns and feeling like princesses, they were part of the romance awards. And being there itself, was a prise.

Someday I'm gonna go to RWA Nationals, someday. Someday I will go on a FRW cruise. Yep, right there next to the best of ours I'll stand. Well maybe sit, I'll be in my 90's.
I'll be able to meet all of the people I have spent a fortune on buying their books.
And maybe, just maybe if I'm lucky. I will be a name somebody recognizes. Now wouldn't that be all of it, me the one hit wonder. Somebody will ask for my autograph, and I will be there in the picture smiling.

Wait I just woke up. I'll be fortunate if my editor wants my second book. Oh well, smacked by reality again. I will live even if I had only this one success. 'Tripping Through Time', my story will be published. That's an award in itself for me.

Publish Date and Jianne Carlo

Well I am getting closer to getting a publish date. I should know within the next two weeks when. I will be so glad to finally get it, and so hoping that it will sell. Time will tell, whether people want to take a trip through time with me or not. I wonder whether I should dye my hair for the occasion. Ha!

My friend Jianne Carlo just published her book. In the first two weeks she sold over 640 books. I am amazed, I know she is a fantastic writer, but how did everyone else know? There is now way I could match those figures. I am just in shock, and once they read it, Manacled in Monaco will be a new hit. I just feel it in my bones. Jianne is a beautiful, educated, petite, classy and motivated woman. I think she would be a success at whatever she wrote about, but this story is killer. There is so much sex, fantastic imagery, great dialogue, a riveting story in a romantic tropical setting; yes I'm saying it, this story rocks. Jianne reminds me what it was like when I was younger. How my heart beat when he drove up in front of my house. Those feelings all came back to me, and I remember the lust very well. Hmmm where is he?

Congratulations, to my friend and critique partner. I am so lucky to know you. You are a class act, and a great writer. I wish you the best.

No One Comments

I just got to thinking. Why do most people visit a site or a blog, spend time there, read, watch a trailer, whatever, they never leave a comment.
No one says, hey you stink, so if you do you don't know it. No one says, that was great, so if you were you don't know that either.
Is it fear, maybe, but...no they could go anonymous.
Maybe it's, they don't care.
Maybe no one reads your stuff.
Or could it be that people just think it's too much effort. Just that key stroke or two. What is it?
I make myself do it when I go to most blogs or sites, just because I know how much that person wants me to comment.
Am I nuts? Or do I care and no one else does. Tell me.
Why is it that no one comments.

Aging Parents

My poor older brother is the one who takes most of the brunt of family illness problems, he lives in the same town as my parents and two sisters. One lives with them she is a bit slow, but without her to be the gofer, my parents be lost. My other sister is disabled and has given up on life.

I don't know how many times my parent have called him at all hours. They don't want to call 911, they are afraid of the expense involved. They can well afford it, so I don't get it. They decided to call this time, luckily for my father or he would have bled to death. He is not in great shake, on dialysis due to kidney failure and has every other aging problem there is. Dialysis is rough on those who suffer it to stay alive.

Not only does he have to deal with all that. But he stopped at my sister's house to help with her pepsi addiction, (she was out of it), and found her passed out in her bedroom, he thought she was dead. Instant heart failure followed as he tried to wake her. She finally came around, the problem is over medication. She's given up and that's her whole life. Taking that pain medication.

I think that's what made my father give up too.
How do you get a stubborn man who refuses to get the help he needs, get that help?
We are going to try to talk to him. Me and my two brothers, since out of the six of us, there are only three of us who function independently.

How do you intimidate a man who has spent his whole life intimidating us, into doing the right thing? It's a conundrum.

My parents do not face reality. And unfortunately, they will have no choice.

Getting old is a scary thing. And I can't do a thing about that either.

Mary Stella and a free book for a donation

Mary Stella, a co-member of the Florida Romance Writers, FRW,is a wonderful author. She just got a shocker from our main group the Romance Writers of America, RWA. She won't be participating in a long anticipated book Literary book signing, in San Francisco.

They changed the qualifying rules, and got "uninvited", sadly her books were both published prior to 2007. Rather than brood, she has decided to make, "lemonade out of lemons".

Get a free book for a small donation to the Literary chapter in your area. $2, $5, $10, on up, whatever you can afford. After all it is about reading and the readers, in the end, that's all that matters. Get yourself a great book whose story is set in the Florida Keys, and is a contemporary romance.

You'll be getting a great book and doing a good thing.

Right?

Time Travel

So where would you go if you could travel in time? Would you like to meet a native American Indian, say in 1815? The settlers of this country were horrible to them. How about in a romance novel type of scene?

Maybe, or maybe not, depends on where in the US you are at the time. Is your idea of the best trip to go to the future. Say 2050, the world could be in a devastating depression, or we could be at the dawn of a new day. I guess that depends on whether we vote Republican or Democrat. What the heck happened to that social security surplus anyways?

I could go back and change a few mistakes I made, undo some things I would rather not have done or said. Would it change my life?

One time I had just stepped on a needle and it broke in my foot into five pieces, I guess those wooden Dr. Scholl's weren't a good idea. I was just out of the hospital, having to remove the needle pieces surgically. I felt like doo doo. Now mind you I had just sent in 800, yes 800, entries into a contest for $250,000, The Lucky Lady Sweepstakes. I had just answered four calls, which I had to crawl on the floor to get to the phone to answer. So this particular call I just answered,"I don't want any." Some guy said. "You don't want any. Are you sure?" Something along those lines. My firm yes and hang us settled that.

And then I got to thinking. About a week later I received in the mail three sets of second prises, two tickets to the movie. Now mind you there were only five second prise winners. So did I blow it or not? I will always wonder. It could have changed my life so much for the better. You just never know.
Moral of the story, wait and see who is on the phone before you dismiss them. Ha. Live and learn!

World Erotic Art Museum

Well not only did I get to see South Beach, which I have never seen, but I got to see the WEAM, the World Erotic Art Museum. A more unique collection of erotic art could not possibly exist. I saw things from 500 yrs BC, to the always lovely Marilyn Monroe. Definitely a place to see.
I was surprised at the quality of the artwork. Yes I did see Homer Simpson with an erection, but I also saw a number of wonderful things. I myself especially loved some of the nude paintings. Some of them were done with such emotion and beauty, I would love to have one for my living room.
Check it out in South Beach, and then walk along the beach and see people just as interesting and diversified.
We have a book signing panel event at the museum. The very first one I ever participated in and I am still here to tell about it. Whew, I made it!

My Secret Garden

I have some plant juice running in my veins, it's the only conclusion I could come to.
No matter where I am it's about the colors, feel the textures, and inhale the fragrance of flowers and foliage. The intricate weaving of just the right plant, (whatever I could afford at the time), made for a "fairyland effect", to quote a friend. From the ground cover, to the rare peach tree, to the many varieties of palms and ferns, the stepping stones,and statues below billowing wind chimes; they all take me to my secret place. I'm in my secret garden.
Butterflies hover over sub tropical blooms, Jasmine blooms while chameleons run through the glossy leaves of the banana plants. A slight gust of wind cools my corner of the myriad of sensual overload.
I sit. Inhaling the perfume of the garden, I put the one thing in my hand that only makes this moment perfect. A good romance book.

My Reincarnated Dog.

Whenever I am upset, my dog knows. Even if I do not show it he knows. He will come and lay near me, his huge, heavy, black head resting on my foot, the contact comforting. His loving eyes follow me where ever I go, loving me unconditionally. He trust that when he is hurt I will fix it, when he is hungry I will feed him, let him out when he has to go out, and take him for a ride in the car.
All I have to do is say, "Do you want to go for a ride?", and he quivers with anxiousness, leash in his mouth. Or maybe I might say,"Do you want to go swimming?", he's at the back door, floating toy clutched between huge teeth, squeaking that toy for all he's worth. I ask if he wants to eat, and he will bring me his dish. Tell him to get up on the bed, he's there. He is so smart it's scary. It's almost like he is a reincarnated human.
He loves cats and has a healthy respect for their claws, but when he sees one in the yard he will chase it. He especially loves little dogs, and when he is too overpowering and they let him know, he backs away. He will not fight with other dogs, he is a pacifist.
When I cry, he comforts me. He tries to give me a toy, that ought to do it. And if nothing else works he kisses me and gives me doggy hugs. It's that real love that I see in his adoring eyes, and I love him back, more than anything. Sometimes more then that husband who might have made me cry. He's the baby I never had. If anyone had told me my children would be huge German Shepherds, I'd have laughed. But there it is, he's the best friend I've got. He loves me no matter how bad I look, no matter how dumb I might sound, no matter what mistakes I make. He loves me, he is devoted to me, and I love him. The saddest part of the whole thing is that I will outlive him, just like I have his predecessors.
But for me I'll take that pain and live with it. The alternative is unthinkable.
I just hope that when I die, I have been as good as he has, so that I can see him, and all the others, in heaven. That has to be where he will go and I want to meet the pack I have lost someday.
Now that would be heaven wouldn't it?