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I don’t know what made me do it, but this morning as I was eating breakfast and entertaining myself surfing the Internet, I turned on the TV and guess what I found? Baseball! Yep, my boys were playing their season opener again the Oakland Athletics in Tokyo. How come I didn’t know that? I would’ve been up at the crack of dawn if I had known ESPN was going to broadcast the game.
And believe me, I will be tomorrow morning!
So, I came into the game late, around the eighth inning, and the Red Sox were behind. Bummer, but I started singing Tessie as I poured another cup of coffee and it wasn’t long before Tessie worked her magic again. In the ninth, Brandon Moss–a last minute replacement for J. D. Drew–hit his first homerun in the majors and tied the game.
Believe me, that was better than ten cups of coffee to get me going!
Then, when the game went into extra innings, I got to see my favorite player, Manny Ramirez, do his thing. And oh boy, was it a thing of beauty! With Julio Lugo on second base, Oakland decided to walk David Ortiz and take their chances with Manny instead. Wrong decision on their part, but I love it when that happens, especially when it plays out like it did today! Manny hit a double–which came close to being a homerun–Big Papi and Lugo rounded third and headed for home and the Red Sox won their first game of the season. Woo-hoo!
The thing is…I really don’t get it when teams intentionally walk Ortiz and take their chances with Manny. It always makes me shake my head. Just doesn’t make sense to me, but then, like Oakland manager, Bob Geren, said, “they’re both great hitters and you have to pick one or the other.” And I guess, in the case of Ortiz and Manny, it sometimes seems like the classic no-win scenario. I’m just glad they play for my team.
So, baseball’s back and with it comes the Red Sox, Manny, and unlimited hope for another winning season. God’s in His heaven, smiling down at all us baseball fans, and at least for the moment, all’s right in my world…
play ball!
News yesterday of two more e-publishers who won’t be with us for much longer. I know, I know, we’ve heard it all before and without a doubt, we’ll hear it again. Having been with two e-publishers who went down; StarDust Press who handled the whole thing professionally, and Twilight Fantasies Publications, who…didn’t, I sympathize with the authors of both companies. As for the owners well…you be the judge.
Shadowrose Publishing is now listed on the EREC blog (Emily Veinglory’s site) with a cloud of smoke, meaning there have been “some reports of trouble.” Preditors & Editors says their link is “broken.” No word from Piers Anthony yet, but then Mr. Anthony’s page isn’t scheduled for an update until next month, and I imagine he’ll have something to say when he does update. Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books, Dear Author, and Karen Knows Best have all reported on this as have, I imagine, many other blogs out there in cyber-space.
Shadowrose is a perfect example of taking the low road and I have nothing but loathing for them.
The second, Dark Eden Press, is a relatively new e-publisher. Most of what I heard about them during their short time in business, was positive. There were a few rumbles, but since they’re closing, the negatives are not really relevant here. What is relevant is the way the owner, Debra Durham, has chosen to handle the closing of her business. Instead of slinking away and hiding, Ms. Durham has taken the high road, releasing a letter to her authors telling them what she plans to do.
Her letter can be found here. I dare every person with even the vaguest notion of starting an e-press now or at some future time, as well as every e-publisher in business today, to read it and learn!
The thing is…all this has me wondering what the hell is the matter with people these days? And like I’ve said in the past about the owners of Twilight Fantasies who chose to take the low road when they closed, how the hell do they look at themselves in the mirror every morning, knowing what they did to their authors?
What happened to doing the right thing, admitting you failed, and taking responsibility for your actions?
<sigh> I guess it’s pretty naive and foolish of me to believe that the golden rule I learned as a child–treat others as you would like to be treated–still stands. It doesn’t, at least not in e-publishing. The golden rule for e-publishers these days seems to be sign as many authors as you can, grab the money and run, and oh yes, we mustn’t forget the most important part, fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.
I really hope St. Peter’s taking names, and plans on kicking some ass when the time comes.
In an earlier post today, I talked about March Madness and the Romance world coming together in the DA BWAHA tournament. Well, this seems to be a day for world collisions since it happened again just a few minutes ago–at least in my mind.
As an author, you just never know where you’re going to find inspiration for a story and I’ve come to the conclusion that blog posts fall under that same unpredictable umbrella. I was reading the MLB Fanhouse blogs and came across the big brou-ha-ha in Florida about the Red Sox players boycotting today’s spring-training game and the trip to Japan if MLB didn’t pony up the money promised to the coaches and staff for the trip. A lot of people were giving my boys a hard time about this, saying they make enough money to pay the coaches and staff out of their own pockets.
I don’t get that, and maybe it’s just the baby-boomer in me, but why in the hell are fans aiming their vitriole at the players over this? Seems to me their acid comments would be better directed to MLB. The players are only standing up for their friends and fellow staff members and trying to right a wrong.
Okay–bear with me, I promise I do have a point here!–so, I was sent a message on MySpace a few days ago from a Rabid Cassie Edwards Fangirl. She called me a bitch and said the reason I was being so mean to Ms. Edwards is because I’m jealous that Ms. Edwards has sold more books than I have and because her name is more well-known than mine.
That’s true on both counts, Ms. Edwards is better known and has sold more books, but I’m not in the least bit jealous of her. In my opinion, she’s a plagiarist and that makes her a cheat and a thief. I wouldn’t trade places with her for all the money in the world, because regardless of her status as a best-selling author, cheating and stealing are wrong. If that’s what it takes to get ahead in the world, well, count me out.
The thing is…the Red Sox players did exactly what I would’ve done in their shoes. They saw a wrong and were brave enough to stand up and try to make it right–which is all I’m trying to do when I walk into a bookstore and hide all the Cassie Edwards books I can find. It’s my way of righting a wrong and I’ll keep doing it as long as she and her publishers continue to sell her books–see, told you I had a point!
I’m not jealous of Cassie Edwards and/or her money. If anyone does their job and does it well, I think they’re entitled to compensation, but…
if someone lies, cheats, or steals in that job, well…sorry, but that’s wrong. I don’t care if that makes me a jealous bitch in the eyes of some people and really, I think Ms. Edwards, if she ever admits she was wrong to do what she did, might just agree with me.
The ladies over at Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books and Dear Author offer up a special treat for me today; the DA BWAHA Tournament, a March Madness bracket-type contest for the romance lover/sports fan in all of us. Details can be found at either of the sites.
Basketball isn’t my sport, baseball is what does it for me–with a little football thrown in during the off-season–but while I wait for the official start of baseball season and agonize over the fact that my team will be winging their way to Japan today–I’m one of those who believes if God had meant for us to fly, he would’ve given us wings–I can entertain myself and keep my mind off of plane crashes, thanks to the creativeness of the Smart Bitches and Dear Author.
Wow! That was some run-on sentence, wasn’t it? Deep breath…
The thing is…who knew there were so many sports fans out there in Romance Land? I mean, I’ve caught mention of sports–mainly football or soccer–several times on the romance blogs I frequent, but, this just blew me away! If you look at the bracket set-up, it’s obvious SB and DA put a lot of thought into this thing. It’s awesome and should be loads of fun as we wait not so patiently for baseball season to start.
Check it out–before seven pm, EST today. Sorry for the short notice, I’ve been AWOL for the last couple of days working on the blurb for the back cover of Snow Shadows–less than five months till the release!–and excerpts from a couple of my upcoming books which Lisa and Linda at L&L Dreamspell generously offered to add to the back pages–woo-hoo!
To the Red Sox–safe trip!
Update: Deadline for bracket entries has been extended to midnight EST! Details and everything you ever needed to know about DB BWAHA here. Go on, click on it!
Yes, I know, I’ve loved him since…forever, but after reading this article on the Red Sox site, Manny finds wisdom with touch of gray, by Maureen Mullen, I’m more in love with him than ever.
He is, to me, the epitome of a baseball player, one who plays the game and plays it well, who enjoys what he does, and one who keeps his head on straight.
Yes, that’s right, I said Manny has his head on straight. I know there are many people who don’t agree with me, who say uncomplimentary things about his intelligence, but I’m here to tell you, it just ain’t so. Manny has his moments, sure, but if you listen, really listen to what he’s saying, he makes a lot of sense.
For instance, on growing older: “The older you get, the smarter you get.”
On the power of positive thinking: “…if you think positive stuff, all the positive stuff is going to come to you. Making things happen for yourself. Hey, that’s what it’s all about. If you said to yourself, ‘Oh, I’m tired today, brother.’ Then you’re going to be tired all day. That’s it. That’s what it’s all about.”
On reading (his new favorite pastime): “That’s all I do is read, read, read, read, read. I love it.”
Followed by: “Hanging out with my uncle and taking him everywhere with me, he always tell me, ‘When you got time, when you’re killing time, when you don’t got nothing to do, go get a book and start reading.’”
About life after baseball: “All this stuff here — baseball — is just like a fantasy that you have. But you leave that when you leave the game. You start living your life after you retire, your real life.”
And later: “My main goal when I retire is that I want to see my kids grow. I want to teach them about life. The game is good and everything, but … “
Now, if that’s not a man who has his head screwed on right, I don’t know who or what is.
The thing is…I’ve been a fan of Manny’s for a long time. Don’t know why that is, other than the first time I saw him play for the Red Sox, something just turned over in my heart and I’ve loved him ever since. Now that he’s getting older, with a little gray in his hair, that just adds to the appeal for me–hey, ask my husband if you don’t believe me. I love a man with a little sprinkle of gray, like laugh lines, it adds character.
I’ve always said Manny knew what the game of baseball was all about and people always laughed at me for that. Well, now I’m saying Manny not only knows baseball, he also knows what the game of life is about.
Be still my heart!
If you’d like to read the entire article, click here:
And thanks to Ms. Mullen for this wonderful article about my favorite player!
A funny thing happened to me on MySpace today…and I’m scared. Well, okay, more amused than scared…actually, more rolling on the floor gasping for breath as I mop the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard, than amused. I was minding my own business, taking a break from writing and I found a couple of notices from MySpace that I had a new friend request and a new message from someone named *Jojo*. *Jojo*? Never heard of her, but the title of her message gave me a clue as to how she felt about me: “Your (sic) a bitch.”
First thing I did was roll my eyes at the “your”. I mean, come on, my second graders know better than that. Strike that, I don’t want to lower myself to her level and I really don’t want to get a reputation as an “ABB” (Author Behaving Badly), although she apparently doesn’t have anything against being labeled a RBB (Reader Behaving Badly).
So, what did she have to say? Well, I’ll let you read it for yourself–while I go get another tissue for all these tears I’m shedding:
Ok, look. Just because you are an “author” which, by the way, I have NEVER heard of you before today. I only came across your name today because I was looking for Cassie Edwards online and happened to come across your little tangent. Seems to me, you are a little jealous that you are not selling as many books as Ms. Edwards. I happen to love her books, and no I do not get my history lessons from her. I do not read them for the history, I read them because they are fascinating stories. I have probably read every one of her books. And will probably NEVER read one of yours. Cassie Edwards is a name that is in many homes across the United States, yours, like I said, I have NEVER heard of.So, just a little advice from an AVID Cassie Edwards reader, get off your high horse and get a life. Stop bitching about other people’s work and work on getting yours known!So, I’m not entitled to my opinion, huh? Well, sorry, but if you’re a fan of Cassie Edwards, you have to take the bad with the good–and there’s a lot more bad than good to be said about Ms. Edwards these days. She’s a proven plagiarist and in my book, you can’t sink much lower than that. I’ve never read any of her books, and never will, because I have no desire to read someone who not only steals words instead of writing her own, but manages to insult Native Americans every time she puts out a book and titles it “Savage” something or other.
As far as you never having heard of me, well, no surprise there, I haven’t been around anywhere near as long as Ms. Edwards. But I promise you, if you ever do “hear” of me, it won’t be because I stole from other authors to make my name. I may write romance, as does Ms. Edwards, but that’s about the only thing I have in common with her.
And really, do you mind if I ask what you hoped to gain by sending me such a nasty message? I don’t know for sure, but if I were in Ms. Edwards’ shoes, I’d be cringing at this kind of meangirl attitude from my fans. Not that I haven’t seen this kind of behavior before, I have, on SB/TB, DA, and numerous other romance blogs (I’ll include some helpful links for you at the bottom of this post), but I have to tell you, you’re not helping her case any when you pull stunts like this. In fact, you’re only making her look worse in the eyes of romance readers everywhere. Not to mention, degrading the genre and everyone associated with it.
Oh, by the way, the new friend request came from Al Cole, a DJ/musician/author in Boston–Go Red Sox!–who has the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Seriously gorgeous! I might have to use those eyes in my next book. He also has a great voice and his music ain’t too bad either. His tagline: “May your heart be inspired to love.” Maybe you should take a look at his page, read the excerpts from his new book, Romance for Women, and listen to his music–it just might mellow you out a bit. Or just stare into those sexy blue eyes and dream for a while…
Or maybe not. Anyway, here are those links:
Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/. There are numerous posts there, just type ”Cassie Edwards” in the search engine, or you can start with the file in the upper right-hand corner. Fair warning though, it paints a pretty repulsive picture.
Dear Author: http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/. Again, type ”Cassie Edwards” in the search engine and you’ll find numerous posts dealing with what she did.
And if that’s not enough to convince you…well, I don’t have any idea what would.
One more thing, I didn’t report you to MySpace this time, but I’m not making any promises if you do this again. You’re not welcome in my world so…
Go. Away.
Lots of things going on in my world the last few days and I don’t have a clue where to start talking, er, writing about it. I guess I should just close my eyes, hold my nose and jump right in.
First–and most exciting!–I have a release date on my book. August 16th! Woo-hoo! Adding to the thrill of that is the fact that the 16th is one week to the day after my niece’s wedding. Ooooh, August is going to be so hot! Well, okay, August is always hot in the southeast, but this year there’s going to be a lot of Snoopy dances going on and that’s likely to ratchet up the heat a couple of notches, at least in my world!
Second, there’s news of another e-publisher who seems to be showing signs of going down. Not saying it’s so, but from all I’ve read over the last couple of days, New Concepts Publishing is acting a lot like Twilight Fantasies acted right before they closed up shop and slinked away into the night. According to several of their authors, they’re not answering emails, not addressing problems raised by the authors on the authors’ loop, giving preferential treatment to the books written by the owners of the company, not sending books out for reviews, not promoting, etc., etc., etc. I feel sorry for their authors, because I know how it feels to be treated like that and I’m hoping for the best, but you know me, expecting the worst. I hope, whatever happens, they at least have the decency to stand up and take responsibility for their actions and not just close up shop, leaving their authors hanging like Twilight did.
Third, Josh Beckett is injured–oh noes!–and probably won’t make the flight to Japan for the games the Red Sox are scheduled to play there next week. First Schilling, then Beckett. This is so not good, but I’m trying to look at it as a blessing in disguise. I wasn’t too thrilled about the team flying all that way just to play a couple of games then turning around and flying all that way back again just days before the season starts. And maybe, if this back injury keeps Beckett from making that long flight, he’ll be ready for the season opener here at home–at least I hope so!
Fourth, I’ve been working on updating my website now that I have a release date and I have to tell you, that’s a lot of work! I’ve got four books releasing this year and I’m trying to get all the info on them straightened out and posted. Arrgh! Looks like I need to morph back into a teacher and make detailed plans for every minute of every hour of every day. I hate that! But my website looks really good, even if I do say so myself!
Fifth, I caught a post on AOL MLB Fanhouse the other day about Roger Clemens that sent me off into gales of laughter. It seems the Huntsville Stars, a minor league team in Alabama, have come up with a new logo for their team which includes a rocket. So, what did they do? Yep, they offered ”Rocket” Clemens a job as their back-up mascot. He won’t make the millions of dollars he’s used to and thinks he’s worth, but it’s not a bad salary–$25 a game. IMO, more than he’s worth. Especially since he’ll only have to work on the days their primary mascot, Homer the Polecat, can’t work. Here’s the link if you want to read the post. Warning: if you have a drink in your hands, put it down and swallow whatever’s in your mouth before you read!
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/03/06/roger-clemens-gets-a-job-offer/
Ya’ think he’ll take it? Doubtful, given his arrogance. Maybe they should offer him the position of Homer the Polecat–much more fitting, to my way of thinking. He wouldn’t even have to wear a costume, just a sweatshirt with the name Homer on it. I think most of the fans, being from the south, will get it.
Sixth, I spent all day Saturday, working on the dedication and acknowledgements page for my book. The dedication was easy since it’s been in my heart for a long time now, but the acknowledgement page–ack! Hard! Well, maybe not hard, but definitely boring. To avoid even the merest whiff of the “Cassie Edwards thing”, I cited the books and Internet pages I used for my research. I also added a special thank you to the Lone Wolf site because, hey, they taught me the most important thing of all…
I’m a Twinkie!* That still makes me smile!
* http://caitlynhunter.wordpress.com/2007/10/28/im-a-twinkie/
My husband’s out of town on a business trip and when he calls tonight, I hate to have to do it, but I’m going to have to break his heart. You see, I’ve fallen in love with another man.
And not just any man, the man of my dreams. A tall, dark, gorgeous hunk of perfection who stepped out of the shadowy world of my fantasies and into my life. He’s been with me for a while now, though I’d never met him, never so much as glimpsed his face. But as winter melts into spring, he emerged from the Snow Shadows, held out his hand, and…well, I just couldn’t help myself.
Don’t judge me until you get a look at him and then we’ll see who’s drooling! Here he is for your viewing pleasure, but I warn you, I’m very territorial, so hands off ladies!
His name’s Mathias Tassel and yes, he does have a brother. Three of them, in fact, and they’re all as delicious as he is! But their stories are living in my head for the time being. Right now, I only have eyes for Matt!
Thanks to Linda and Lisa of L&L Dreamspell who gave me the chance to make my dreams reality!
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