I’ve been interviewed by the wonderfully fabulous Raine Delight. She is such a wonderful lady to chat with! And I adore her blog.

Also, it appears that Ocean’s Call is up on ARe (All Romance Ebooks). That is awesome!

Have a great Friday All!

Hey everyone!

I just received word from one of my editors. Due to some schedule shifting an MS that was supposed to be turned in two weeks from now needs to be in by Monday. So my dears, I must leave you all for the…

I will be checking in on you all soon! Wish me luck!

*Updated to add…another editor from a different house has just sent me an email as well. It looks like I’ll be doing double duty this weekend.*

See you all on Tuesday…LOL. I love this stuff. *WEG*

Later all!

Florida’s Natural has an Orange box…much like the soapbox only this time YOU get to have your say. It’s very cute and definitely kept me giggling for a minute or two. I love farmer’s markets and always have. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Now I’m off to make some OJ…from concentrate, of course. *sigh* Wish I lived close to an orange grove. Have a great hump day, all.

*edited to add* Due to the obnoxious start up of this cute little cartoon, EVERY TIME you go to the blog,  you’ll have to click for more in order to see it. LOL. (more…)

A very dear friend is toughing it out in Iowa amidst the flooding. Her home is south of Cedar Rapids and is, thankfully, on higher ground. For a couple of days there were worries, however. Not that she would get flooded, but that she would have no clean water or electricity. For her and the children that would be devastating. If Cedar Rapids had lost either of their plants, it would have been tragic for most of the state. As it is, my heart goes out to the Cedar Rapids community. So much damage. I asked her if I could send anything and she laughed. All mail to their city is routed through Cedar Rapids. There is no way I can get anything to her at this time. And the roads leading to the state from mine are currently closed off for one reason or another. Grrr. I’ll be watching the weather. Hang in there, Emma.

My heart broke when Katrina hit. In less than 24 hours I was working with 30 other volunteers packing up buses with supplies and sending them on their way.  Meanwhile we, the small city of Wichita Falls, Tx, became a major routing station for about 2000 people. We took the overflow from San Antonio and Dallas (who’d already been taking the overflow from Houston). Clothes, food, shelter, reuniting loved ones, and medical attention were the first priority. Job relocation and independence were the next. We absorbed quite a few into our community and helped several more return home after the okays came in from Louisiana and Mississippi. Still others moved on to other cities and towns, leaving behind beautiful memories of their times here.

The entire city of Cedar Rapids is flooded. 9 square miles under water. This situation has me again watching CNN and scoping reuters.com for news.

Author Jo Leigh is one of my favorite Harlequin authors. Her blazes are an inspiration and I’ve never seen anyone write as tightly as she does. During 70 days of sweat she was an amazingly supportive lady, full of fun and really pushing us all to succeed. It breaks my heart to know that her husband passed on Friday.  She is struggling due to the cost of medical bills. It’s heartbreaking. I found this information via Lynn Viehl’s Paperback Writer blog. So I’m forwarding this message, in its entirety, from  Stephanie Tyler’s weblog:

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“One of our own, author Jo Leigh (aka Jolie Kramer) lost her husband on June 13 after he courageously battled cancer. If you don’t know their story which is the stuff romance novels are made of, you can read it here and see their wedding picture here.

In addition to being a fabulous friend to so many and a mulit-RITA nominated author who has written for Harlequin Blaze, Temptation, Intrigue, Special Projects, Silhouette Intimate Moments and Meteor Kismet, Jo is known across the country for the amazing writing classes she teaches, including one on plotting that is incomparable. She has been incredibly generous to so many in sharing her knowledge and expertise.

Unfortunately, Jo has been left with a lot of medical expenses she will be struggling to cover as they had no health insurance, and we would like to help her out by holding several fundraising auctions. If you have items to donate - books or book baskets/collections, critiques, ARCs of upcoming releases, mentoring opportunities, web or promotional material design work etc., please email the item description to the following email address: forjoleigh@gmail.com. This is the address we’re using to organize the items.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

Alison Kent, HelenKay Dimon, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler

**edited to add - We’ve been asked about monetary donations - please email me via my contact page and I’ll email you the paypal address, if this is how you wish to help Jo.

We’ve already covered a lot of loops and groups, but if you’d like to post it where you haven’t seen it, or put it up on your blog, that would be wonderful.”
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I don’t know what I’m going to do to help. The cost of shipping is so outrageous right now. I’ve got a quilt I could finish and send in. Perhaps a service I could offer. I have several print books I’d love to throw in. What about you?  Anyone else wanting to give? Or do you know another website, author, individual who’s donating something? If so, I’ll be happy to add their links to the bottom of this post.

Lynn is donating a gorgeous quilt as well as some signed Darkyn and StarDoc novels.

Shadow Lies, a part of Aspen Mountain Press’s Plain Brown Wrapper short stories, has released today!

Fifteen years should have blurred the edges of her memory, but for Kristiana, there is no relief. A love bite by a vampire has left her enhanced and pissed off. So what does a woman do when her old lover returns and wants to pick up where he left off?

You play to win, of course. As only a woman can.

Available Now at Aspen Mountain Press

So, it’s been two weeks and the ants are persistent. It’s been an uphill battle and I have ultimately come out on top…for now. The little buggers will be back, I’m sure of it. In the meantime we ripped out the bushes lining the wall outside and sure enough, I was right…they had holed up in there and were foraging for food. So with their homes uprooted and ant bait around, the ants have dwindled to almost nothing. BTW, foggers don’t tend to work for these little monsters. *sigh*

In the meantime I’ve been tagged by Lexxie, Michelle, JM and several others. I have to work on this one, but it’ll be up soon. Until then, Happy Friday!

*hugs*