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I’ve been ignoring this blog for the last week or so as I set up a new blog for the Dames of Dialogue on WordPress and transferred all of our posts from our other host to the new site. We had a few problems getting it up and going, but with the help of Sheri at WordPress Support, those are all behind us now and the blog is–at last!–live. We’re at http://damesofdialogue.wordpress.com/. Drop by and say hi!
Other than the glitches with setting up the blog, the last week has been a good one–well, if you don’t count the weather. We’ve had days and days and days of rain and I don’t think it’s ever going to stop. I thought April was the month for rain, but this year, March has been like a monsoon season. Beyond the misery it causes my dogs, I’m ready for a few days of sunshine so I can get my garden started. Dare I hope that since March has been so rainy, April will be full of sunshine?
A couple of important happenings this week in my writing life. First, Snow Shadows is now available at Mountain Lore Books and More in beautiful, historic downtown Hendersonville! Yippee! I’m in a bookstore!
Second, I received the contracts for the two anthologies I have stories in with L&L Dreamspell; The Secret Life of Alice Smitty in PMS: Poison + Murder = Satisfaction and Third Time’s for Keeps in Romance of My Dreams. Which means they should be coming out soon. Double Yippee!
Other than that, I’m still editing Storm Shadows. Bleh! I’m beginning to think I’m never going to get this one to the point where I feel comfortable sending it to my publisher. That sucks, especially since I got the proof file of PMS the other day and Lisa and Linda were nice enough to edit the bio I sent them to include mention of both Snow Shadows and Storm Shadows.
I’m hoping that might work as inspiration for me to get that thing finished!
How cool is it that First Lady Michelle Obama is putting in a vegetable garden at the White House for the first time since Eleanor Roosevelt?
I love gardening, whether it’s growing vegetables or flowers. One thing I’m looking forward to this year is planting a vegetable garden now that we’re in a house. Couldn’t do that in an apartment and boy, did I miss it. My garden won’t be anywhere as large as the First Lady’s, but the size doesn’t matter, it’s the pleasure of growing things from seed that means the most to me.
A few likenesses that made me smile while reading about this year’s White House garden:
Mrs. Obama plans to include a number of herbs in her garden–something I always do in my vegetable gardens. Beyond the value of companion planting, I just flat-out love the way they smell.
Mrs. Obama plans to line the walkways of her garden with marigolds, zinnias, and other flowers. Marigolds and zinnias, two flowers I never fail to plant in my vegetable gardens. The zinnias because they’re so cheerful and bright, as are the marigolds, but the marigolds are also very good at keeping away certain garden pests.
There will be no beets in the White House garden because President Obama hates beets, as does my husband. I can usually count on him to eat just about anything, except beets. He absolutely hates them!
So tomorrow, my husband gets to use his new toy to till up my garden. Then next weekend, he’ll put up a fence around it to keep the dogs from digging up what I plant and the weekend after that, if the weather’s warm enough, we’ll be planting–if I can wait that long!
I can almost taste the fresh green beans (my favorite) right now!
Spent most of this past weekend learning how to get around on Squidoo–very confusing for a computer moron like me!–and rewriting the prologue for Storm Shadows, which I’m happy to say, I think I’ve finally gotten right. Hopefully, the rest of the revisions on the book will come easier now that I have a beginning I like.
Other than that, not much going on in my life right now except…yeah, you guessed it, baseball! The U.S. stayed alive in the WBC yesterday by beating the Netherlands, a team I thought just might win the whole thing due to their drive and enthusiasm. Hey, stranger things have happened, right?
Dustin Pedroia is no longer playing for team U.S., but is back in Florida because of what turned out to be a strained left abdominal muscle–and thanks to Youk for talking him out of staying and trying to play through the injury! Julio Lugo is scheduled for surgery on his right knee tomorrow–Lugo on the DL? Who’d've thought? Sorry, couldn’t resist the sarcasm. I know there are a lot of people out there who like Lugo but it seems to me every time I turn around he’s injured. I’m beginning to side with the fans who are screaming for Boston to get rid of him because he’s not worth what they’re paying.
Speaking of players who might not be worth their paycheck, Manny Ramirez is already on the Dodgers DL. Hmm…I have to wonder at that. Could it be that Manny’s not happy? And could it be that L.A.’s about to get a taste of Manny being Manny?
I can’t say, but I can say my fangirl crush on him is–thankfully!–over and done with. I’ve seen more than enough and given his comments after Jonathan Papelbon’s interview in Esquire, I think the time has come for me to leave him behind.
So this is the end of my Manny era. I’m turning him over to the L.A. fans and I sincerely hope they enjoy his antics. I also hope he lives up to their expectations. He probably will, but who can say for how long? In all likelihood, before the end of this season, they’ll either love him or wish they’d never heard his name.
Say it with me all you LA fans, “That’s just Manny being Manny!”
As for me, I think I’ll turn my attentions to Jon Lester (who the Red Sox just signed for five years!)…or Mike Lowell (welcome back, Mikey!)…or maybe Jacoby Ellsbury…or David Ortiz…or Tim Wakefield…
Couldn’t resist that picture after finding an email in my inbox this morning about the Senate voting down the Murkowski amendment which would have put one of my favorite animals in even more danger.
From the Defenders of Wildlife site:
WASHINGTON – This afternoon, the Senate voted to leave intact language in the Omnibus Appropriations bill (HR 1105) that authorizes the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to withdraw flawed Endangered Species Act regulations adopted by the Bush administration.
The following is a statement from Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife:
“Today’s vote by the Senate demonstrates that endangered species conservation remains one of our nation’s most important obligations to ourselves and future generations.
“By rejecting Senator Murkowski’s amendment to undermine protection for polar bears and other threatened and endangered species, the Senate capped off a good week for protecting our endangered wildlife. On Tuesday, President Obama expressed his strong support for the Endangered Species Act and signed a presidential memorandum restoring some of the protections for endangered species that the Bush administration had stripped away shortly before leaving office.
“Defenders of Wildlife particularly appreciates the leadership shown by Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer, and Senator Cardin in opposing the Murkowski amendment. By speaking out against the Murkowski amendment, these courageous Senators gave voice to polar bears and other endangered wildlife which would otherwise have no voice. Each of them, and all of the Senators who voted to reject the Murkowski amendment, deserve our thanks.
“We also thank Rep. Norm Dicks and other House and Senate Appropriations Committee members for their leadership in including this important wildlife provision in the bill. ”
To find out more about the Defenders of Wildlife, go to www.defenders.org.
I urge all of you to click the link and join them in their ongoing campaign to protect this beautiful planet of ours and all of its inhabitants!
Lots of things to celebrate today:
1. It’s Read an E-book week! Hip-hip-hooray! Haven’t been bitten by the e-book bug yet? Then why not go for a quick, easy, feel-good read to get in the spirit, so to speak. Come on, you know you want to and have I got just the book for you!
*Warning, blatant self-promotion ahead!*
Check out my novella, Unwilling Angel. A short, fast read guaranteed to lift your spirits! And if you want something with a little more, um, bite to it, take a look at Snow Shadows, about a Cherokee shape-shifter who doesn’t bite–unless you want him to! Available in e-book at your favorite online e-book supplier and mine; FictionWise.
2. Baseball, baseball, and more baseball.
First, the World Baseball Classic. Did you see that game last night between the US and Venezuela? Wow! My man, Youk, hit another homerun–that makes two!–and I’m betting he’ll hit more before it’s over. Adam Dunn ain’t doing too bad either! Better yet, now that the WBC has started, that means the regular season isn’t far behind.
Second, Manny Ramirez finally signed with the LA Dodgers so now we won’t have to see his name pop up everywhere. No offense Manny, but even I got tired of seeing your face splashed all over the online sports news. I mean, really, what are you trying to be? The (insert whatever pop-celeb you’re sick of hearing about) of baseball?
Third, Alex Rodriguez opted to have arthroscopic surgery on his hip instead of trying to play through the season with a torn labrum. From all reports, he’ll be out for 6-9 weeks. If I’d been in his shoes, I would’ve done the same thing but…with everything that’s happened in his life lately it seems like awful convenient timing. Just saying…
3. The sun is out, all the snow is gone, the temperature is in the high 70’s, the squirrels–both gray and white–are capering, and the birds are singing their little hearts out. Spring has sprung here in the mountains of North Carolina and I’m loving it!
4. Got an email from my publisher last night asking for a short bio for the PMS: Poison + Murder = Satisfaction anthology. That means it should be released soon! My short, The Secret Life of Alice Smitty, is one of the stories. Double woo-hoo!
5. Made it through another revision of Storm Shadows this weekend and I think it’s just about ready to be submitted. For right now, Betty Sue seems to be satisfied with her character and her happy ending. Whew! Now, let’s just hope she stays that way!
So there you have it, five reasons I’m doing Snoopy dances. Don’t you just love it when the angels give you multiple reasons for dancing?
March came roaring in Sunday with frigid temps, accumulating snow, and high winds. We still have snow on the ground but we’re supposed to be back up in the sixties this weekend. Hopefully, the saying will hold true and March will go out like a lamb.
I’m hoping for the same thing in my writing world too. I’ve been incredibly busy for about a week now, doing things with the Dames of Dialogue, a group formed by Maggie Bishop, my sister, Christy Tillery French, and myself. We have a website, a blog, and now, a MySpace page–that’s what I’ve been working on and I have to tell you, its been a while since I did much on MySpace, so I’m having to relearn how to build a page from the ground up, so to speak.
Anyway, I hope you’ll check us out and if you’re on MySpace, friend us! We’d love to see your name on our list of friends!
Along with the Dames of Dialogue, I recently joined the High Country Writers group which means I’m driving to Boone twice a month for the meetings, I’ve been revising Storm Shadows–hopefully for the last time!–,working on my WIP, Winds of Fate, posting a few entries on the DoD blog–while ignoring this one, shame on me!–and in my baseball world, Spring Training games have started which means it won’t be long now before the regular season starts. Yippee!
And speaking of baseball, a bit of an aside to Manny Ramirez–Manny, you know I love you, but please, sign the contract with the Dodgers already! I’m sick to death of hearing about you, your agent, and the back and forth between you two and the Dodgers. Seriously, 45 million for two years of doing what you claim to love doing isn’t enough for you? Come on!
Okay, a couple of more things before I click the “Publish” button; I entered a copy of Snow Shadows in the GoodReads book giveaway. The offer ends March 15th, so if you’re interested in getting a free authographed copy, sign up. Also, take a look at the Dames of Dialogue blog today–I’m in the spotlight! Woo-hoo! And without my sunglasses too!
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