Tuesday Comings and Goings

Today I'm revisiting the blogs I guested on last month. I have prizes to give away and need to get those out to the appropriate winners! I should have done that weeks ago, but August is always busier than I think it will be. All that vacationing and end of summer stuff to get through. Not that vacationing is difficult!

Last day of August and it's downright depressing. Where did the summer, the year get to??? I had big plans for this year, and it's flown by with only a few things on my list accomplished. Better revise that and soon, or this year will be a total bust.

Monday Musings

Lots going on in the month of August. Finished up a blog tour for Dark Desires of the Druids: Sex and Subterfuge, went on vacation, and came back to 1 rejection and 1 request.

The rejection was very honest and straight forward, and didn't have anything to do with my writing or with the story, Paranormal Investigations. The rejection was to do with the market, and honestly I can accept that! Paranromals are a very crowded market. Personally, and OK I'm the author:) but I think that Paranormal Investigations is different than most. But hey, I'll keep trying.

Now, from the same editor, the request. It wasn't for Paranormal Investigations, but a story I'd started and set aside to work on the Egyptian contemporary. (Which is completely plotted and 3 chapters in, but alas.) So this new story, a very dark and different Regency, is the goal for this week.

For a limited time only on All Romance Ebooks, Dark Desires of the Druids: Murder and Magick is free. And don't forget to get the free Dark Desires of the Druids: Choose Your Own Adventure.

8 things winner!

Actually, now that I look at the answers and #2, I realize that it's kind of misleading. So in essence, all three of you won! Email me and let me know which story you'd like.


Isabel is really 2 people
Well, yes, and if you've followed me at all this summer, you'd see our picture all over the place!

Isabel is really 2 people who are non-identical twins separated at birth and somehow share the same brain.
Yes and no...we are two people, there are times when we share a brain (same sentences with the same words) I'll give you that.

One part of Isabel dislocated her nose.
Yes, Christine did when she fell off the swing set. It hurt!

Isabel once worked for the Natural History Museum.
Nope! This one isn't true at all, though Christine would have loved to.

NCIS is the recreational drug of choice.
Oh, yeah.

When one part of Isabel was born, Roberto Clemente drove her mother to the hospital.
Marisa's mother was at a baseball game when she went into labor and as her parents happened to be friends with him, he graciously drove her mother to the hospital.

One of Isabel's books was featured on a national television program.
Yup! Home Shopping Network in September 2009.

While skiing one part of Isabel hit a tree.
Christine did...she has a picture someplace, but 'skiing' and 'hitting a tree' are kind of misleading: She was skiing in that she was on skies but had already fallen and was trying to stop on her way down a hill but couldn't stand up to do anything. Leaning over would have just put her back to square one of not having the skies on. As for the tree...it was like 10 inches in diameter. Not very big.

8 Things you didn't know about me

Darn that Nicole McCaffrey! I was quite happy not blogging for the entirety of August after that 5 week blog tour. But no, she got me. OK, OK, here are the rules:

Nic tagged me with the Versatile Blogger Award. I have to list eight things you probably didn't want to know about me, and one of them has to be a lie. If readers guess which is the lie, they win a prize, which is a free e-book of any of my stories, winner picks!

True or False?

1. Isabel is really 2 people
2. Isabel is really 2 people who are non-identical twins separated at birth and somehow share the same brain.
3. One part of Isabel dislocated her nose.
4. Isabel once worked for the Natural History Museum.
5. NCIS is the recreational drug of choice.
6. When one part of Isabel was born, Roberto Clemente drove her mother to the hospital.
7. One of Isabel's books was featured on a national television program.
8. While skiing one part of Isabel hit a tree.

Which is the lie???

British nobility

For most of July I did a blog tour, so many blogs, so much desire to recycle them. For the remainder of August and probably much of September, I plan on using them. I'm blog-burned out for the moment, so this is the best I can manage. :)

British Nobility

My lord! My lady! My Lord in heaven, seriously-stop already! Tedious isn’t it? And yet as historical writers, we have to get it right. Not just right, but dead on. Because those who read historicals? THEY KNOW! And if you make a mistake, and it gets printed, forget it.

Peerage basics are actually fairly complicated so basics is a misnomer. There are sites and books who spell it all out fare better than I, but here you go. (If you want a much more comprehensive site on it, try here.)

My one pet peeve of historicals: Why are there so many dukes?

Still, don't forget the order from lowest to highest:
Sir and Lady/Dame and Lord (non hereditary)
Baronet and lady (hereditary but don't hold seats in the House of Lords)
Baron and Baroness
Viscount and Viscountess
Earls and Countesses
Marquess and Marchioness
Duke and Duchess
Prince and Princess
King and Queen

You probably figured out those last 2 eh? Yeah. So there you have it, the order of titles. More importantly, what can you do with all that formality today?

Different ranks and different family relations are addressed in different manners. Today, it's a lot simpler than Jane Austen, even Georgette Heyer. Trust me, that's a bit relief!

Your heroine can now get away with calling the hero by his first name, as would close family and his closest of friends. Strangers would still refer to him in the proper manner-by his last name or title. Isn’t it amazing what a little modern thinking can get you? And how intimate it makes everything?




Dark Desires of the Druids: Sex & Subterfuge available now in bookstores. Free short Story: Dark Desires of the Druids: Choose Your Own Adventure.

Murder and Magick free!

For a limited time only on All Romance Ebooks, Dark Desires of the Druids: Murder and Magick is free.

Losing her virginity can mean ruin for a Victorian lady. For Raven Drake, it means freedom to explore her sexuality. As a magicker in hiding, Raven subscribes to her culture’s less prudish philosophy. She wants to experience every erotic sensation imaginable.

Malcolm, Lord Preston, desires her from the moment he sees her, and doesn’t allow society’s rules to stand in his way. More than happy to introduce Raven to the pleasures of sex, he doesn’t expect to fall in love with her.

Their tryst is a welcome distraction from witch hunters and political maneuverings. But can it overcome the weight of another man’s ring on her finger?

Sex and Subterfuge in bookstores now! And don't forget to get the free Dark Desires of the Druids: Choose Your Own Adventure.