I have a tee shirt that says,  Writer.  As politically Incorrect as it gets.  That’s me in spades and my personality takes the lead on this.  I have little tolerance for Political Correctness.  Millions of soldiers have fought and died for your right of free speech and being PC is killing it.  I, as a Marine's wife, have kept my mouth shut rather than make a PC statement.  Those of you who know me well, know that was a struggle.  My mouth never shuts when it should. 

This morning on the news…a group in California is trying to ban Mylar balloons.  Actually it was a ban on all balloons.  Yes, let’s waste a court system with crap like this in a state that is nearly bankrupt.  This isn’t a concern for people, it’s for birds.  Birds.  I don’t give a damn about some seagulls getting balloons in their digestive tracks or a balloon floating in the water and mistaken for Jellyfish by BIRDS.  I care about children, my fellow Americans and the environment, but worrying about birds eating what they shouldn’t, not a concern.  It’s like the fight for timber wolves.  They breed, and are not near extinction.  I don't care.   It’s a food chain thing.  I’m at the top, they’re not.  Might be cold and callus, but when people are going hungry, out of work, losing their homes while there is supposed to be a $700 billion bail out to help them, birds are not even on my radar till today. 

Stop the stupid. Focus on what matters to HUMANS.

Attaching a fee to flat screen TV purchases.  This is a new one to me, minor and ridiculous.  Apparently, flat screens use more energy than a regular TV.  Now California legislature wants to attach fees to the purchase of a flat screen.  This helps HOW?  If you want a flat screen, and you’re aware it uses more energy, then that’s your choice.  Why slap on a fee?  for the sake of the enviroment?  Really?  Then who gets that fee money?  The smoggiest state in the union?  CA is near bankruptcy.  It’s obvious legistators can’t handle money and they're looking to find it in penalty fees like this.  I say, let the customer pay the extra for energy to run it and stay out of my home and my business.    

Slightly off track... I feel the same way about Gay Rights.  US Government needs to stay out of this.  Gays should have every right as any other American because they ARE Americans.  Discriminating is NOT an option, so why is there even a discussion?  To refuse to marry a gay couple is breaking the law with discrimination.  Any further discussion brings in religion.  Who you love or your sexual preference is not anyones business, especially not a government that can't even police its own legislative members.  (Ragell, Larry Craig, and 2 dozen male senators!)  Those who refuse this right to American’s should be penalized.  Let's start with the US Senate. 

This one puts me over the edge…

Harlequin is starting a vanity press.  Harlequin Horizons.  I received a notice on it this morning as did about 10K RWA members.  The purpose of this is to do what?  Devalue the writers who made it through the editorial gauntlet and wrote books that made HQ billion$?  I think it’s the dumbest move by Harlequin.   HQ is playing to the ‘I wanna be a writer’ people who are not storytellers.  A real writer just wants to tell a story, a Vanity press wants to see their name in print.  BIG difference.  To me, Harlequin just slapped any writer who's ever written for them by agreeing to print ANYONE who can pay for it.  PAY.  Out of your own pocket pay.

FYI, I nor the other Babes have ever paid to be in print.  We earned the right and the publisher paid US. 

With this move, Harlequin no longer meets the requirements for its authors to enter the RITA contest.  It makes Harlequin Silhouette non-eligible as RWA does not recognize vanity press as legitimate publishers.

The next weeks will be a true test of RWA.  If they change the rules for HQ  and their authors (I was one of them)  then they have to reinstate the Precious Gem authors they’d denied a couple years ago.  If they don't knuckle, RWA loses tons of money, yet in the same vent, Harlequin will have to pay their way to conference and everything else that was free till now.  

Vanity press is nothing more than PAYING to FEEL like a writer.  My opinion, and you can argue it, but you will never change my mind. 

I will declare now, that if RWA doesn’t treat Harlequin like all the other vanity presses, then I will, after 20 years, no longer be a member of an organization with no backbone. 

So readers... what do you think?   

AMY

I am freaking amazed that next week is Thanksgiving. Really??? I thought for sure that once my kids were adults time would adjust itself properly, but no - I'm still wondering what happened to the entire month of October.  Before I know it, it will be Christmas and then it will be 2010 = time for another year of goals. I'm hoping to reach a few more of mine than I did this year - although I still have a month and a half left.  I think I might be sick

I am really excited about Thanksgiving this year.  Rhon and her family are coming, my friend Sheryl and her family - the kids will all be there from college, Nancy and maybe a few more - if you live in Jupiter, come on by.  My house is small but everyone is welcome. I am not the only one who has had a tough year. Just about everybody I know has been touched by the poor economy.  My mom is out of work, my dad's been out of work, my husband's had to take a drastic pay cut and I'm working at Starbucks - and glad to have the job so that we can pay insurance! But instead of that bumming me out, I've decided that this year I am celebrating family and friendship - I don't want to look at the "have not" column - I'm tired of that, lol. This holiday season I want to notice all of the small miracles that happen.  It's incredible how many there are, if you're looking.

For example, there's a young woman who works at Publix in the deli.  She doesn't speak English very well.  There was a man, 'special', and homeless, who had come into Starbucks for a cup of coffee. It was raining really hard outside. She gave me money, like fifty bucks, to give to him, anonymously.  He was thrilled - and she felt good. And I'd witnessed one of those miracles.

Anyway, tis the season, all freaking ready, lol.  I am wearing my rose colored glasses and don't even try to take them off - get your own, lololol

Forgive me because I’m a tad brain dead after a long weekend at a dance convention.  My teeth are still rattling from the never-ending pound of the music and my butt is still numb from 10-hour days sitting on a hard banquet chair.  But enough about me . . .

While I was there, one of the kids asked their parent to read over their paper before they turned it in this week.  Yes, I couldn’t help myself; I read over the parent’s shoulder and just couldn’t keep my mouth closed when I say one of my pet peeves on the page.

The first three words:

‘His teenage son. . . ‘WRONG!!!!’  Just as in middle-aged man, the correct way is . . . ‘His teenaged son.’  Fine, we may not use that in conversation - it’s the whole lay/lie thing.  Southerners say, “I’m going to lay down.”  That is technically incorrect.  Chicken lay, people lie.

Word number 4:

Towards.  Nope, ‘no s’ unless you’re writing in British English.

Word number 5:

Backwards.  See above.

Words number 6 & 7:

“No,” He hissed.  A person can’t hiss a word that does not end in an ‘s.’  Unless it goes this way . . . “No.”  He said, and then hissed.

We all have our pet peeves and I know mine are silly but believe it or not, reading them pops me right out of a story.  I understand that all areas of the world have their own colloquialisms  - only in New York and New Jersey do you stand on line rather than in line.  In the Mid-Atlantic States you say, “I’m going down the beach.”  The rest of the world says, “I’m going to the beach.” 

Do you have any pet peeves you’d like to share???

Orb World by Andrea Gale

Ylana has been sick and spent most of her time in hospitals. Eventually, her sickness takes her.

She awakes and finds herself in another world; it’s not heaven or hell as she ever imagined. Here, in this village, you are a slave to another of seniority – wearing no clothes – to learn and grow. This village has no modern conveniences and belonging to a man doesn’t sit well with Ylana.

Ylana soon discovers that she is needed for her librarian background and must help save the village from a dominant, modernized village, much bigger and better equipped for war.

Andrea Gale takes you to a world most have never imagined, stirs in emotion, tension, love, and puzzles to ponder through Ylana’s journey to discover the secrets of the orbs with clues left by the Originators.

I am fascinated with Ms. Gale’s creativity and ability to take the reader into this unimaginable world. Impressive.

3.5 Shoes

I’ll be brief.  I’m deadlining still.   I’m so close to the end I can taste it.

The reason I’m not done is I’ve been interrupted four times already this morning and I’ve been working since 7 AM.  That’s just today.  I’m ready to seriously maim three men any moment.  Plus I’m sick.  I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t left the house in a month so it’s anyone’s guess what vile cooties the men brought in here.  But it’s the interruptions that are making me psycho.  After 17 years 'don't disturb the writer,' they know better! 

It's like I'm talking to rocks!

I can't tell you how dangerous this makes me.

See, I might look like my Irish heritage, but also I’m half Sicilian, with a temper to match.  I’m owning it.  I can be a nasty bitch when you push the wrong button.  I’m not civil and patient like Leanne or Rhonda.  Or always upbeat and positive like Traci.  I admire that.  Greatly.   Most times, I'm pretty reasonable and rather sane, but once enraged, I’m the 'blow you out of the water first volley' type.

Probably good that I work alone, huh? 

As you might have guessed, my mouth has landed me in trouble before.  Words, you can never take back and I've bitten my tongue hundreds of times.

I wish I wasn’t this way and was more like my ‘patience of a saint and the wisdom of sage’ Dad.  Or my ‘so generous she’s already earned her wings’ mom.  Clearly, the gene pool thinned when it got to me.  I’ve struggled with my temper.  And I have to say, no one else in my family has a  short fuse.  No one.    My Nana said I got it from Sicilian Papa.  Bless his heart.

This week, all the wrong buttons have been pushed several times, and I’m a verbal danger to anyone within striking distance.   Clearly, the men in this house forgot I own my own weapons. 

I'll spare you more.  My targets are already acquired.

INCOMING!!!!

Amy

Happy Birthday Marines!  (Nov 10)

I don’t miss going to the USMC balls, just the always fantastic cake!

I have been in Hell cavorting with Satan.  Or put another way, my flipping computer crashed, in the middle of a book.  How can that be a problem for a person who backs-up to an external hard drive and has an online locker?  (Suspenders and a belt).  I have no one to blame but me.  Since I loathe email- yes, I know I’m the only one who doesn’t want or need to be tethered to emails - Anyway, in my haste to clear out my inbox, I received a notification that looked like all the other notifications, asking me to click to receive the latest Vista updates.  I clicked.  That was October 21st.  Well, it seems that it was a bogus email and I actually downloaded and installed a very, very nasty virus.  I had the freaking swine flu of computer viruses.  Problem was, I had no immediate warning that my computer was compromised.  Unbeknownst to me, the virus was eating away at Vista and it apparently had a Travelocity account because it went to visit my back-up hard drives and my flash drives and since I go from flash drive to thumb drive when I’m juggling between my laptop and my desktop, I managed to infect my laptop as well.  I began popping Xanax like tic-tacs.  But I didn’t think all was lost.  After all, I pay a decent sum a year to have an online locker so this could never happen.  (Yes, I’m applying a sticky note that reads ‘STUPID’ to my forehead). 

My computer skills are pretty much limited to msconfig, anything more than that and I have to call in the Crown Prince of computer repair, St. Louis.  Louis came to my house and began checking my system.  This was the first time I realized I had more than just a ‘where’s my files’ problem.  It’s never good when the IT guy sits down, groans and whistles as he shakes his head while staring at the useless blue screen.

After 5-6 hours of diagnostic stuff, he tells me I have to reinstall Vista.  Really?  Isn’t Vista one of the 7 levels of Hell?  So, after some discussion, he tells me it might be easier to get the Windows 7 Upgrade.  He did warn me that Microsoft had 3 editions of 7 and 2 subsets of those editions.  One subset simply washed your memory and got rid of all your files.  Another Xanax.  But what I needed was the Home Premium upgrade so we could retrieve as many MBs as possible.

I put on my shoes and socks and drove to Staples.  I grabbed the first employee I could find he took me over to the Windows 7 display.  I’d written Sr. Louis’s instruction in sharpie on my palm.  I read off the no-washing, 64-bit upgrade I specifically told him that I was n deadline - and yes, he mentioned something about wanting to be a writer.  The pencil-necked guy pointed to a blue box and said that was the version I needed.  I raced up, collected the program (the stuff on the shelves is all empty boxes to cut down on theft).  I was back home in less than 14 minutes.

We opened the box, slipped in the cd and a big red screen that said, “Program not compatible.”  Huh????  Louis tried again - no luck.  He contacted Microsoft and the representative told him I needed the green box.  I called Staples and explained that what I’d been sold was incorrect and since I’d only owned the program for 18 minutes, I wanted to exchange it for the correct version.

“Sorry, we don’t take returns on software that’s been opened.”  Huh again?  “If you want a refund, you’ll have to send the program back to Microsoft but I would have to purchase the correct upgrade for an additional $200.00.  Are you kidding me????  Nope.  He then put me on hold, came back on the line in about 5 minutes, and said he’d spoken to the pencil-necked employee and the guy swears he didn’t select the software, I did.  The only thing he did was to get the program from the back and take it to the register.  Lying weasel bastard!!!!

I wasn’t going down without a fight.  While my husband made a cheese and fruit plate for Louis and his wife, I charged up to Staples.  As soon as I reached the parking lot, I called the Microsoft tech back and asked him to stay on the line - according to Microsoft, the store can return the software so he didn’t understand the problem.  I went to customer service and was told that the manager had stepped out.  Liars!!!  I stood there and told them I was happy to wait.  Miraculously, the manager teleported back to the store because he showed up 2-3 minutes later.  All the while, I’m having a lovely chat with the Microsoft guy. 

Manager called pencil-neck up to the register and I put Microsoft on speaker.  Pencil neck insisted that I’d never spoken to him other than to tell him to get me the wrong upgrade version.  He said he’d talked t other employees and they corroborated pencil neck’s story that I dashed in and out without speaking to a soul.  I asked the manager what the logic could possibly be for me to buy the wrong program.  Manager said it was probably because I made a bad choice since I was in a hurry because I was 2/3rds finished with a manuscript and I needed my computer files to complete my book.

Then before I could say a word, the Microsoft guy says, “If she didn’t talk to anyone, how do you know she’s in the middle of a book and has to upgrade with as much of her content as possible.  I gotta tell you, if he’d been there in person, I’d have kissed him.  With tongue. 

I turned to pencil neck and said, “Does your mother know you lie with that mouth?”  He turned and hurried toward the back of the store.  Well, maybe he hurried after I called him a sniveling girl.  Manager then acted like he was giving me his kidney as he reluctantly exchanged the software.  When we were done, he about choked as he asked me if there was anything else I needed.  Other than having him sit and spin on an Easy Button, no.

Back home I go.  Louis and is wife have snacked and he’s ready to get going.  It took the usual amount of time but in an hour or so, he had the computer running.  I sat there, my breath stuck in my throat as he began hyper-clicking his way through my hard drives.  Then the screen went black.  It was well into the evening when Louis called Microsoft tech support.  He stayed on the line for over an hour, listening to Musak but it was getting late.  He decided to call it a night and come back the next day. 

I will spare you the gory details but the problems are about 80% fixed.  I’ve spent a total of about 25 hours on hold to reach Microsoft so they can explain how to get the computer to reboot.  If I turn it off, it dies.  I finally get through only to be told that the tech didn’t have a solution to my problem in his reference manual.  They designed it but they can’t troubleshoot it????

So, it’s now more than a week later and Louis was able to retrieve my manuscript - kinda.  What I got was 275 pages.  Some had words, some had symbols and others looked like hieroglyphics.  I was basically back to square one and even though I’ve been at it for almost a week, I’m still trying to fix the old pages.  I bet you’re wondering why I didn’t just go to my online locker and retrieve a clean copy of the manuscript.  Apparently my virus worked some black magic.  My user ID and password didn’t work and my secret reminder question didn’t work either.  I called Webroot and explained what had happened.  I also sent them a copy of the bills from Louis to show my computer had a serious health problem.  I even told them the credit card number I used for billing.  They didn’t care.  Then the customer service woman (and I’m using that term in the most generous way) told me that frustration was hostile and she wasn’t required to assist frustrated or hostile people.  Deep breath, more Xanax.  I called back.  Same result.  I did the same thing for 4 days before I hoisted the white flag, called my credit card company, and requested they back charge Webroot since I wasn’t receiving the service.

So, here I sit on 11/11 and I still can’t turn my computer off nor is my email fully functional.  I went out and bought a 1.5 TB external drive and Louis copied all my stuff onto that before he did a complete wipe on the computer.  Then I wasted a day and a ½ reloading my necessary programs and after I finish the book, I’m hoping to learn a little bit about my new operating system.  Can’t do that until I get through to Microsoft so they can help me fix whatever it is that prevents me from shutting down the computer. 

After the 7th of December, I might be able to share my thoughts about Windows 7.  I’m hoping it will be as much improved as Word 2007.

Enjoy your day . . .

Rhonda

Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street!

Can you believe one of our favorite children's show is that old?  I'm thrilled it's still going strong.  Sesame Street was one of those shows I often watched WITH my children when they were little.  I'll confess I enjoyed it too.  The colorful muppets with their dilemmas of the day.  I also liked that Sesame Street tackled some tougher issues such as having an HIV positive muppet and a wheel-chair bound muppet along with alllllll the celebrity visitors!  Alicia Keys, Robin Williams, Dixie Chicks, Andrea Bocelli... Whew I can't name all of them. There've been over 440 celebrity guests on Sesame Street!

My kids have their fave Sesame Street characters.  My daughter loved the Count and my son loved Kermit. My favorites?  Oscar The Grouch and his girlfriend Grundgetta.  What's not to love about a grouch who lives in a garbage can?lol  And my absolute favorite Sesame Street Character?  COOKIE MONSTER! 

Who are your favorite Sesame Street Characters?

Friends

My husband loves surprises, and this weekend he got me good!!

We went to Orlando Saturday for a booksigning at Altamonte Mall – it was great fun, and twenty percent of the sales went to literacy – yeah, Barnes and Noble!  Anyway, we went to Bahama Breeze for lunch - never been there before so I’m excited, right?  Even more exciting was seeing Stacey Savatsky step from behind a palm tree, the same beautiful smile, the same dark curling hair from FOREVER ago - it was freaking Amazing, lol.  We were teenagers together!!

And I had my teenager with me.  Destini is 18.  It was the coolest strangest wonderful most surreal thing…I love that Stacey – and her hubby Joe  - is in my life again.  Weird thing?  Lunch is over, we get in the car and I ask Destini what she thought about Stacey – and she says, “She’s cool.  I never thought about you having friends, you’re my mom.”  She arched her teenaged brow, and I fell into defensive mode about having friends – lol.  Very mature, I know.  Back to lunch, we had such a fun time – we talked and caught up – no awkward silences AND she brought a poem that I’d written back in 1984.  Someone (Marcelle?) wrote it in nice calligraphy, and I’d given it to Stacey, whose dad had saved it in the attic.  Seems that twenty five years ago I had a thing for political pieces, lolol – when I wasn’t writing odes to suicide <g>

Stacey offered to tell Destini some wild teenage tales (remind me to never let those two alone together) and Stacey’s Joe seems very laid back – a great guy who loves COKE versus Pepsi, so he’s gotta be cool, yeah?

Saturday was a day for being with great people – after lunch, we went to the booksigning – those Orlando ladies are all lovely.  Catherine Keane, Shauna Hart, Dara, Terry – Louis – too many to name and I don’t want to forget anybody!  Bonnie Vanak and her husband Frank were there, as was Nancy Cohen, my fellow Florida Romance Writers.  It was fun to talk business and new projects.  Plus, Greg and I got to hang out with Destini, who I miss terribly since she moved to college.

And of course, I can’t skip mentioning my fellow Babes when it comes to great friends.  I commiserated with Rhon this morning over bad rat hats, and Amy and Leanne are always commenting and sending their support – and Trena – well, we go almost as far back as me and Stacey.

I am off to lunch with my friend Becky – the greatest blessing in my life is being surrounded by wonderful people J

COMBUSTION by REBECCA SAVAGE

Sherri Marconi-Sandoval is a 25 year old, petite red head, brought up in a loving Italian home, and is an only child. She thought she met the man of her dreams in George Sandoval.

George Sandoval is a handsome, filthy rich businessman with major connections throughout the community. He also possesses another side of himself that no one knows about.

After a whirlwind romance, Sherri married George after knowing him only 3 months, but before the ink dried on the marriage license, George began to show his true colors. He began beating Sherri and forcing her to perform her “wifely duties,” all the while threatening to kill her and her family if she ever left him.

The final straw comes with George beating Sherri within inches of her life, leaving her for dead, and setting fire to their home...with Sherri still inside. So, with money Sherri stashed away for months, she leaves George, beginning the true hell of her life.

Bouncing from motel to motel, having alienated everyone she knows and loves, Sherri continues to run from George and his goons. Eventually, she finds herself at a women’s shelter as a volunteer nurse. Upon the recommendations of others at the shelter, she answers an ad for an apartment; the landlord is the owner of the women’s shelter, a downright saint and gentleman, John Tarentino.

John Tarentino is a well off, gorgeous firefighter with a few skeletons of his own. John has an internal need to help and protect everyone around him, especially a particularly beautiful red head with serious trust issues in regards to the male species.

With George’s relentless attempts to get Sherri back, or kill her, John finds himself falling hard for Sherri. But will she ever allow herself to trust him, allow him to love her completely? Better question, will Sherri stay alive long enough for John to try?

Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens every day in the real world. If only every woman had a John Tarentino to care about her, protect her, and prove that not all men are bad. There is a shining knight out there for every girl. Never give up and always believe in yourself.

Rebecca Savage shows a special talent for making you feel as if you are living the hell that Sherri Marconi-Sandoval is living; feeling her pain, both physical and emotional. My eyes even welled up at one point, which is not an easy accomplishment. Her attention to detail, making scenes come alive on the paper, is incredible. This is a remarkably well written story of courage, never giving up on life, and holding onto hope for a real life with real love. A definite recommended read.

I’m deadlining…   which is different from being on a deadline.  It’s a BS excuse.  If writers are working writers, we’re ALL on deadlines and that means—we’re employed.

I’m at the last 30 pages, the ‘get the bad guy and make ‘em pay dearly’ pages of the story.  In this book, Damage Control (Dragon One #5)  I’m pretty much telling two different stories that collide. I do that with almost every book, just not to the extent of Sebastian and Olivia’s story.  I think I'm pushing the limits, but its fiction.  There are no limits and nothing is illegal.  

Recently, I had a letter from a reader saying she’d bought my last book but wouldn’t read the past the first 100 pages because my evil bad guy had body guards and guns.  She claimed that they didn’t have them in Singapore, reserved for the government officials.  Bad guys, as we’ve see in the news daily, don’t play by the rules, that’s why they are...oh gee… BAD.  !

Most times I just gaff off stuff like this.  The average reader has no idea that the author of a book is NOT that last person to touch it.  Any published author can sympathize.  Personally, the instant I get a copy of my book, I check it against the galley proofs that I’ve corrected and I’m always disappointed.  My second book was missing about 8 pages of a very critical scene because the copy editor, not my editor, decided she could write better than me.   And (here's the real heartbreaker) despite that I took 24-hours to correct and Fed Ex the proof pages to NYC (after flying 36 hours from Okinawa to CA with 2 toddlers) it went to print without a single correction.  So you see, we authors have less control than anyone thinks.

I started thinking about all the great books that were just panned by reviewers or readers.  Books that didn’t sell well, yet went on to become world classics.

And here’s where payback is sweet, albeit, late.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare - performed in London in 1662.  "The most stupid ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life." - Samuel Pepys, Diary.

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift - 1726.  "..evidence of a diseased mind and a lacerated heart."  - John Dunlop, 'The History of Fiction', 1814.

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - 1857.  "Monsieur Flaubert is not a writer." - Le Figaro.

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - 1877.  "Sentimental Rubbish"  - The Odessa Courier.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1925. "What has never been alive cannot very well go on living. So this is a book of the season only."  - New York Herald Tribune.

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller - 1961.  "Heller wallows in his own laughter... and the sort of antic behavior the children fall into when they know they are losing our attention." - Whitey Balliett, New Yorker.

So my dear bloggers…. readers and writers alike.  Tell me your worst reader letter, review, publishing mistake, horrific cover, or name a great book that was panned... or just bitch. 

Come on, the mic is yours!

AMY

 I've been trying to rein in some of my fat-making eating habits lately because I find if I don't nip it at my booiiiiing weight, it's a quick slide to the next size.

Ever noticed how when you're trying to lose a few pounds that all you think about is FOOD?  Especially food that's not going to help you lose weight such as ripple potato chips and french onion dip, chocolate layer cake with frosting, guacamole, fried onion rings... Okay, enough! 

When I was a little kid, I was a very picky eater.  I think in some ways it would be great if I were a bit more picky now.  That said, I thought it would be fun to talk about foods I dislike.  Foods that make me want to sew my lips together.  Foods that I might not eat even if I were on a desert island starving.

1.Raw Beef-- For some it's a delicacy, but the very idea of it makes me go yuck!

2.Raw Fish -- Yes, that includes sushi.  Do we see a pattern here?  I like my meat cooked.

3.Brussel Sprouts.

4.Organ meats. 

5.Insects. 

I could name several more, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.  What are your least fave foods?

xo,

Leanne

FLAMES IN THE SKY by LINDA LAROQUE

As legend has it, over 1000 years ago in the time of the Chacon Anasazi Indians, a perfect turquoise stone existed, holding special powers. The stone fell into the hands of evil, and because of this, the gods struck the evil holder of the stone, Nukpana, with lightning, breaking off two small pieces of the stone, now referred to as “the twins.” Nukpana never received a proper burial; his body burned, and the ashes stored and sealed in a clay bottle, trapping his evil essence but never allowing him closure.

Current time: An innocent Rita Santiago accidentally damages Nukpana’s containment bottle, releasing his essence. He is now free, ready to take revenge on the Anasazi people and wipe out any sign they ever existed.

Madison Evans, a fiery red head, substitute violinist in the Houston Symphony with a PhD in art, finds herself on a quest to learn more about her ancestry and the history of the special turquoise locket left to her after her mother’s death.

Since acquiring the locket, Madison has been having dreams, almost nightmarish, and they always include a certain warrior and witch woman. What could these dreams mean? Are they trying to tell her something?

Madison’s journey lands her at the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico where she meets the handsome Lonan Stone; a native, National Park Ranger with important ties to more than one of the local tribes.

After several terrifying mishaps, they soon discover that someone is desperately wants Madison’s locket—but why? Could it be the ancient prophets were right? Are Madison and Lonan truly the chosen ones to reunite the twins with the mother stone and lock Nukpana away once and for all? If so, how can they accomplish this seemingly impossible feat? According to the prophecy, the expectations are high, the sacrifices even greater.

Linda LaRoque does it again! Her true talent as an author shines brilliantly in this mystical adventure of time travel, Native American heritage, urban legend, and love. In addition, Ms. LaRoque’s gift for setting a scene is so well done and precise that you can close your eyes and actually see the vivid colors of this beautiful area, smell and feel the air around you, and hear the faint whispers from times past on the light breeze surrounding you. She has you believing in her characters and wanting to believe the legend, the whole story, is true. I highly recommend this book.

Flames in the Sky will light a flame in you...all the way to the last word.

5 Shoes!!

Find Ms. Savage at:  www.lindalaroque.com

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Purchase at: www.thewildrosepress.com