the shopping grinch

It was inevitable. No matter how I tried to avoid it, it was bound to happen. Yeah, the daughters and I are heading to the mall for some after-Christmas shopping.

I'm sort of the anti-chick when it comes to the shopping scene. Oh, I love to have new things...just don't like to go hunting for them (or shell out cash, uh-uh.) My first book was about a beach chick who hated shopping too--wonder where I came up with her?

So anyway, I probably could've avoided the whole mall thing today by proclaiming the truth that "I'm broke, I'm broke!" But nowadays, our Christmas booty is overflowing with gift cards, so my reasoning no longer works. Know what I mean?

How 'bout you? Do you dig the after holiday deals? Or want to ignore that they exist and head to the beach (or mountains or backyard) instead?

stuff for readers and writers

Readers, if you're interested in receiving the latest news from some of your favorite authors all in just ONE newsletter, stop by the Christian Authors Network. You can sign up to receive our newsletter on the right side bar. Besides news, we hold contests periodically, too.

Writers, members of CAN post marketing tips Mon-Fri over at the CANblog. Please stop by. You can read my latest post here. Once there, you can click on Main to read all the latest posts, or find an author you like on the sidebar and read everything they've posted. Easy peasy.

Have a beachy weekend--wherever you are!

Hoska with the moska...

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

Just took this pic of the start of our Christmas morning fare. There's the gingerbread house Elem. Girl and I made, pumpkin bread, fruit, and hoska--a family tradition that's been passed down from my grandma.

Off to sip a latte with hubby before the rest of the fam drags themselves out of bed :) (We had a late Christmas Eve tamale fest...)

Merry Christmas, All!

Cheer-ful ? or Cheer-less?

You Spread a Lot of Holiday Cheer

During the holidays, you represent the true spirit of Christmas. You give freely, and you enjoy this special time of the year. There's a good chance that you spread cheer every time of the year... not just during the holidays. You're kind, upbeat, and generous. Anyone who crosses your path is lucky.

Do You Spread Holiday Cheer?

Writing on Friday--Editing

Happy Friday! Hopefully most you are playing/shopping/eating raw cookie dough, rather than working. I, on the other hand, still have edits looming over my bed head. Thankfully this doesn't keep me from gnawing on that cookie dough...

Anyway. On to writing stuff. With my new set of Otter Bay novels, I've been using techniques I had not tried before with my other books. Had a little discussion about this with another author at a Christmas party the other night put on by a local publishing house. We agreed that it's good to look for ways to improve the craft, and to not be afraid of new ideas. Feels like I'm stretching and growing--and not just because of all the noshing on decorated sugars and fats, ahem ;)

So not only has the writing process changed, but the editing journey has as well. My new editor has been emailing me several chapters at a time, and I've been going through them line by line, tightening and clarifying and falling in love with these characters all over again. It's work. It hurts my head sometimes. But in the long run, this book will better for it. Can't beat that!

So here's to the writers striving to perfect the craft--and to everyone who sets out to do anything well. May you succeed far beyond your dreams. And may you find plenty of time to feast on sweets that show up ad nauseum this time of year :)

Go, Quick!

Author Tina Forkner is giving away a very cool package containing her book, Ruby Among Us, and some CDs from Point of Grace, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and others. It's easy to enter, so go on over--tell her I sent you :)

If you're ever in a jam, here I am...(sing it!)

So I drove 5 hours roundtrip yesterday to visit girlfriends I've known for more than 20 years. (That's three of us in the pic from our outrigger race last year--scary, huh ;)

Anyway, thought I'd make the drive, have a little lunch, then head back before it got too late. But no. Ended up staying at my pal Sharyl's place in Carlsbad for about 7 hours--eating, laughing, more eating, exchanging weird Christmas tree ornaments (seriously, the one I got is u-glee!)--before making the trek north in the dark (and did I mention the heavy rain?)

Ah, but it was worth it!

And something we don't do often enough.

Took a million pictures, and hopefully I'll have one to post soon (something to wipe that cheesy aloha pic out of your heads). In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this last week before Christmas, and that you can take some time to spend it with friends!

The firefighter's name is...

JOSH

The winner of a free book is GAYLA. Congrats!

You guys are so much fun! Thanks for playing and for the comments. Elizabeth's reasoning came closest to mine, and maybe I'll post sometime about how authors choose names. I do have to say that Mimi's comment about T'n'T cracked me up--why didn't I think of that? LOL...

Btw, that's a pic up there of the arc for Sweet Waters. I'm a word person, not a visual artist, so I'm GRATEFUL for the amazing designer who created this cover!

What's in a name? Win a free book!

Years ago I read a book about a gal and a guy on the rodeo circuit. Half way through I recall flipping to the back cover to see if I could find any hints of where the story was going (I know, bad reader, bad). Anyhoo, imagine my surprise when I found that the back cover copy listed a different name for the heroine. My guess is the author changed it, but somehow that info didn't make it to the design folks.

So yesterday I learned that a similar thing happened with review galleys of Sweet Waters. The change has been caught, so the snafu won't show up on bookstore shelves, but those who venture to read a preview might notice that one of the characters (not the heroine) has a different name on the back cover.

So here are questions for the contest: Which do you think is the name I really gave the hero, a firefighter, in Sweet Waters--Trent or Josh? And why did you pick that name?

The rules: Give me your pick, and the reason why. I'll put all the correct answers in a hat (or similar) and randomly choose one for your choice of either Chocolate Beach or Truffles by the Sea to keep for yourself or give away. Easy peasy!

Just so you know, some online sites still list the wrong name--so looking up the book might just lead you astray! (IOW, no cheating ;))

So what's your guess and why?Contest ends Thursday at noon pst.

Christmas shopping--shameless promotion

So there've been some ripples of disruption in the publishing industry lately. Layoffs at Random House and Simon & Schuster, Barnes & Noble prophesying that holiday profits will be down, and Borders restructuring.

I don't get it. Books are the most inexpensive vacation you can take (not that I'm biased or anything ;) Seriously, give someone a beach read (again, not biased...) and a box of chocolates and you've got one inexpensive gift--and one happy gal! For men I suppose a sports book and a beef stick would be the appropriate counter to this.

Then again, I just ran across this pic of a high school senior unabashedly reading Truffles by the Sea. Looks pretty pleased about it too. Ha! So, here's where it really gets shameless... just click here and you can pick up Truffles by the Sea for the special gal (or guy!) in your life this Christmas.

As for me, I'm hitting the online bookstores myself--no joke--because my plan to have all shopping done by Thanksgiving failed miserably! How about you?

Haha...laugh your face off

Thanks to Kelli Standish for my crack up of the day ;)

Saw this on Marla Alupoaicei's site today:

“Make time for the quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud.”

With a busy household of five, plus one rambunctious doggie, coupled with the holidays and a writing career, I think I needed that.