Fortune Favors The Brave

...or so they say. :) I can't say I'm a big believer in fortunetelling, but I've done lots of research on it, and I do find it interesting. I've only had my fortune told once, by a little Russian woman in the back of a NYC strip mall/flea market, where she kept a little room, open to passing shoppers. (It seemed cheesily appropriate at the time.) The first thing she said when she looked at my palm was, "You don't like anyone to tell you what to do."

Gee, is it that obvious? :)

It's amazing how many bizarre methods have been used throughout the centuries to pierce the veil between the known and the unknown. Everybody's heard of palm reading, crystal balls, Tarot cards and tea leaves, right? Well today, in honor of Friday the 13th, I thought I'd post 13 obscure, little-known ways used to tell fortunes. These are all true methods, none of them made up (as evidenced by the very official, deeply scientific addition of "mancy" to the end of each word.) :)

Ailuromancy: Observe how a cat jumps.

Keriomancy: Study the flickering flame of a candle.

Oomancy: Crack an egg into a glass of water and study the shapes the egg white forms in the water.

Bibliomancy: Open the Bible and read the first passge you see to learn your fortune. (In some Christian denominations, this is grounds for excommunication.)

Scarpomancy: Predict someone's future by studying their old shoes.

Scatomancy: Predict your future by studying your own..um..excrement. (Not to be confused with spatulamancy, the study of "skin, bones, AND excrement.")

Tiromancy: Study the shape, holes, mold, and other features on a piece of cheese to determine your future.

Alphitomancy: Feed a special cake to an alleged wrongdoer. an innocent person will be able to eat and digest the cake; a guilty person will gag on the cake or become ill. (Hey! Many people have eaten my cooking and gone on to live normal lives!)

Haruspication: Study the guts of an animal, preferably a sacred one.

Hepatoscopy: Study on the animal's liver; ignore the rest of the guts.

Dilitiriomancy: Feed African benge poison to a chicken. (You've got those laying around, right?)

Uromancy: Predict someone's future by studying their urine. (No thanks! But you know I had to include it, didn't you?)

There, now you're up to date on obscure methods of fortunetelling. Maybe it'll come in handy when you're stuck for small talk at your next party! :)

One Of Those Days...

Ever have one of those days when you just can't seem to focus?

The day started out great when the UPS man dropped off a big envelope full of cover flats for my upcoming book, Dead Girls Are Easy. I even got a copy of the HarperCollins Publishers September 2007 catalog (which is what the publisher uses to present upcoming books to booksellers like Borders and Barnes & Noble). That was kinda cool, because now I can see how I'm being "marketed" by my publisher. My first novel is being described as "hip and sexy", more specifically, "Medium meets Ghost Whisperer, with a dash of Grey's Anatomy". Can't beat that with a stick, as we say down South!

The cover flats are gorgeous and colorful, and I absolutely LOVE that both the title and my name are embossed (raised print). This cover is going to POP! on the shelves, and I'm happy about that. Now that I have the cover flats, it's time to start going and talking to my local bookstores. The idea makes me more nervous than you can possibly imagine - how incredibly ironic that writers (who are in general fairly solitary people) have to do a lot of face-to-face work to once they achieve the goal of being published. (Ah, now there's a blog for another day!)

At any rate, I have books to write, revisions to finish, and a marketing plan to work on, but I can't seem to focus on much of anything today for more than five minutes, and it's driving me nuts. Just like the kitty. :)

Only he's way cuter.

I'm Giving Away an ARC!

As hard as it is to pry it from my hand :), I'm giving away a signed Advance Reader Copy of
Dead Girls Are Easy. ARC's are limited edition, first run printings, which are sent to reviewers and booksellers before the actual novel is released. They contain a few typos (which is to be expected), as they've only been through one round of copy edits by the time they're printed. If you look real close at the bottom of the photograph, you can see how it's clearly marked "Advance Uncorrected Proof/ Not For Sale".

I'll even put a cute little sticker on it that says, "Signed by the Author". :)

Anyway, visit my WEBSITE to enter the drawing, which will be held Saturday, May 19, 2007.

ASKED AND ANSWERED #2

Every other month I ask a question of the published authors at RWAOnline, and every month many of them are kind enough to answer. :) This month's question was: “WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THAT ‘WINNING’ MANUSCRIPT THAT TOOK YOU FROM SUBMISSION TO SALE?”

Cathy Clamp credits both her agent and good timing for her first sale to Tor. “The manuscript had already been rejected by Tor, but that was before my editor was hired, before the romance line was conceived, and before we had an agent. The manuscript itself didn’t change, but was resubmitted at a time when Tor was searching for paranormal romance with unique characters and an unusual POV.” In Cathy’s case, there’s no question that persistence paid off. Her third book, Captive Moon, is currently a finalist for the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Werewolf Romance.

Harlequin Blaze author Tawny Weber believes that learning from her mistakes was key. “Because I’d spent quite a while targeting a specific editor and sending submissions to her, when I submitted this particular manuscript I made sure to use every bit of feedback I’d received from her. That’s one of the things she commented on later, that I never made the same mistake twice. Apparently, I learn well.” Tawny’s first novel, Double Dare, will be a March 2007 release.

Claire Delacroix feels she owes her long-term career to the ability to take constructive criticism. “The difference for me was a good rejection letter. The manuscript was rejected but the editor took the time not only to tell me what she thought was a problem, but to say that she’d love to read it again if I figured out a way to address that issue. It was a huge change and required that I essentially toss the second half of the book, but I saw her point, did what she suggested, and it worked.” Claire has since written and published twenty-three historical novels and several contemporaries under the name Claire Cross. “Many authors seem to believe that editors are just being nice when they say good things about a work that they don’t ultimately buy, but that’s not been my experience. It’s easy for an editor to write “This isn’t suitable for us at this time.” It’s much harder for an editor to pinpoint the reason she/he doesn’t think the work is marketable as it stands, and it shows an interest in the work when the editor takes the time to explain as much to the author. Instead of trying to figure out “the secret language of rejection letters”, I sometimes think that authors should just read the rejection letters that aren’t form letters and take them at face value.”

Author Holly LaPat, writing as Sierra Donovan believes it was a matter of finding the right publisher. “Silhouette Romance turned down my first book, Love On The Air, but added that another publisher might feel differently. I took that advice rather than trying to change what I had. I submitted to Avalon, and they said yes.”

Kate Duggan, writing as Kate Pearce gave herself permission to write naughty. “It began as an experiment to see how far I could push the envelope of my steamy sex scenes. After I finished it, I hid it at the bottom of my desk drawer for two years because I found it difficult to believe I’d actually written something so erotic. It took a lot of coaxing from my mentor, Julia Templeton, to get me to let her read it and ultimately send it out to Ellora’s Cave – who bought it!”

Silhouette author Gail Barrett feels that characterization was key. “What I think I did right with that first book was that I really nailed the hero. He was so real to me that I actually got depressed when I finished writing it – I didn’t want to leave his world! And I think that’s what made the difference. My characters took over instead of me pushing them around.”

As for me, Terri Garey, I would have to agree that characterization played a huge role in my first sale. The heroine in both my upcoming novels, Dead Girls Are Easy and Where The Ghouls Are, is a former Goth girl named Nicki Styx. Nicki just wants to run her business, live her life and immerse herself in fun and fashion, but her life is changed forever when she wakes from a near death experience with the ability to see and hear the dead. A cool chick like Nicki doesn’t like to take “no” for an answer, and when she sprang full-blown into my head, demanding to tell her story, I had no choice but to let her!

Timing, persistence, great characters. “Pushing the envelope”, taking constructive criticism and learning from our mistakes—more golden gems of advice from the published authors of RWAOnline. Thanks so much to all the authors who participated in this month’s topic, and I hope everyone enjoyed the first-hand insight. The next Asked and Answered question will be: “WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS THE BEST METHOD OF PROMOTION?” Websites? Reviews? Word of mouth? Look for the answers in the next edition of ASKED AND ANSWERED.
_____________________
Terri Garey is the author of two upcoming paranormal tales, Dead Girls Are Easy and Where The Ghouls Are. Both novels are about ghosts, voodoo and an extremely unlikely psychic - a former Goth girl who becomes an unwilling ‘ghoulfriend’ to the dearly departed. Dead Girls Are Easy will be an Avon September 2007 release, followed by the sequel, Where The Ghouls Are, in May 2008. Visit Terri on the web, or stop by her favorite haunt .

Old Boyfriends Rock! Literally.

My first serious boyfriend (i.e., the first boy I kissed), was when I was in the eighth grade. Billy was the neighbor of a girlfriend of mine, and even though we didn't go to the same school, we saw each other regularly after school and on weekends. Billy was a guitar playing rocker, even in the eighth grade, with shaggy hair and an actual band (that I can't remember the name of). He called me every night, and though it took it a little while to work up the nerve to kiss me, he did it in most romantic way any girl could imagine - he took me for a moonlight boat ride on the lake, and while we were out in the middle, all alone, he leaned over and gave me a kiss. Talk about your romantic evening! It was a chaste kiss (as were all of them - we were only thirteen, after all) and I'm forever grateful to him for giving a memory like that to cherish.

But as so often happens in the teenage world, we both moved on to other people and other interests, luckily with no hard feelings. And then, last year (thanks to Classmates.com), I got an email from Billy. Not only was I thrilled to hear from him, I was thrilled to learn that he'd never given up his dream of becoming a rock star. :) He now goes by the name Billy Angel, and he's the lead singer in The Rockabilly Band (any Brian Setzer/Stray Cats fans out there? Then you'll know what I'm talking about), and is also a DJ on a local radio station. He has a beautiful wife, and he's living his dream - what more could I guy want?

I just wish I could see him play, one more time, but alas, he lives in Big Sky Country and I live in Gatorland. I think about him from time to time (and I hope he doesn't mind that I just told the world he was the first guy I ever kissed!), and wish him well. Rock on, Billy!

Raines

Have you seen the new TV show called "Raines"? It stars Jeff Goldblum as a detective who sees and hears the dead. (Gee, right up my alley, wouldn't you say?) I was so excited when I heard about this series because, quite simply, casting is everything, and casting the quirky yet charming Jeff Goldblum as a guy who talks to the dead was brilliant.

I know he isn't handsome in the traditional sense of the word, but I've had a crush on him for years. That wide-lipped, sensual mouth, those slumberous eyes, that playful sense of humor. Plus, he's tall, lean-hipped and looks fabulous in either a suit or jeans. Every time I see him I wonder if he's as good in bed as he is on the screen, and every time the mental answer comes back, "Oh, yeah." At the very least, I'm sure he's a fascinating conversationalist, and any time spent in his company would keep me on my toes.

Anyway, I've seen both episodes of this new series, and I absolutely LOVE it. The twist *SPOILER HERE* is that even though the people Raines sees are dead (crime victims), they're not actually ghosts, per se. They're hallucinations. Which means they can't help him solve the crimes that killed him, because they only know what he knows. They talk to him, but he's really talking to himself. Of course, in the end, all this talking and getting to know his victims helps him discover who killed them. It's witty and clever and... did I mention it stars Jeff Goldblum? :)

Watch it!

Golden Hearts and Playground Parts

The Writer's Playground is a group of 20 women who came together three years ago in the spirit of fun and encouragement. We were a motley crew of diverse styles and genres :), but we cheered each other on, encouraged, nagged, and inspired (the hunks were for entertainment purposes only. Really). Tawny's naughty and Tammy's sweet, Marlene is nurturing and Betty's bawdy, Sheila's a whipcracker and Kimmi's a firecracker... we all have our parts to play, and considering how far apart we are in locations and personalities, those parts add up to a pretty amazing whole. It's truly astounding how far we've come together, and, oh my... what fun we've had while doing it!

Over the past three years our little group has seen some incredible successes: eight of us have gone on to become published, eleven have finaled in the prestigious Golden Heart contest (a total of nineteen times!). One Golden Heart winner, one American Title contest winner, and more smaller contest wins among us than I can possibly count! We must be doing something right, hm?

Plus, we have great fun at conferences! :)

But today I want to give a special shout-out and a huge HOORAY! to my friends Beth Burgoon, Kim Duffy, Carla Hughes, Sheila Mohs, and Anna Sugden for finaling in this year's Golden Heart contest! Anna and Beth will battle it out (once again) in the Long Contemporary category with MORTGAGED HEARTS and ALL OR NOTHING; Sheila finaled in Paranormal with her sexy pirate story, TIME TREASURE; Kim Duffy (writing as Lindsey Brookes) has broken through the GH barrier with her fun Young Adult, MY BEST FRIEND'S A REAL DOG; and Carla has finaled in the Inspirational category with her Roman historical, TO LOVE A GLADIATOR.

I'm so proud of them all, and can't wait to cheer them on at the RWA national conference in Dallas this coming July. You can bet we'll have a wild night, win or lose. These women are all winners in my book!

I Double Dare You Not To Smile!

Check out this picture of my dear, sweet friend, Tawny Weber! (Pay no attention to the "Captain's Wench" t-shirt - Tawny's Johnny Depp addiction is legendary). :) Tawny is holding her first (of many, I'm sure) books, a Harlequin Blaze entitled DOUBLE DARE. The publishers in NYC seem to be raining down manna from heaven and making dreams come true this week!

DOUBLE DARE is what you call a "HOT" read... which makes perfect sense considering who wrote it. Tawny's quite the hottie herself! (It's true - Johnny Depp doesn't know what he's missing). If you wanna read about a naughty lingerie designer out to prove what a bad girl she is, and a sexy undercover cop who can't wait to find out, this is the book for you!

Enjoy the thrill, Tawny, and I'm so glad I get to share it with you!

The Squeal Heard 'Round The World!

No, it wasn't a high-pitched sonic boom or your smoke alarm going off this morning, it was me squealing when a box of galleys for DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY was delivered to my door! I wasn't expecting them this early, and I was floored!


"Galleys", also known as ARC's (Advanced Reader Copies), are the bound, pre-proofed version of your book that is sent to reviewers and booksellers (a sneak preview, if you will).


Here's a closer view of what the cover actually looks like:

Isn't it cool? I guess this is the official "unveiling" of the cover! The first time I saw it, I thought, "Whoa," but within five seconds I was thinking, "Yeah!". I just love it. All Halloweeny and spooky and cool and funny. It fits the book perfectly, and look at my name on top! LOL

Even better, the back cover copy is not what I thought it was going to be - it's even better! I haven't been able to stop smiling all day!

Holding that actual book in your hand makes an incredible journey finally seem real.

Wow. It's a good day.

Paying It Forward Pays Off

A few months ago, I attended a writing conference. There were a lot of agents and editors in attendance, and after the conference was over I wrote an industry article entitled AGENT NEWS FROM NEW JERSEY. My theory was that there were a lot of people out there who were dying to know the details about specific literary agents (there's only so much you can learn from the Internet, after all), but weren't able to attend conferences or fly to New York and find out for themselves. :)

Anyway, I just got a very nice email from a woman named Esther Pemberton, who after reading my article, queried agent Mary Sue Seymour. In the true tradition of happy endings, Esther has now signed on as one of Mary Sue's clients!

Congratulations, Esther, and thanks for letting me know that my article helped somebody achieve something so wonderful! Best of luck in your writing career!

Fifteen And Counting...

My husband and I celebrated our 15th anniversary the other day. Fifteen years of wedded bliss. :) (Really!) Unfortunately for us, our anniversary fell on a day that was filled with family drama and trauma, loaded with angst, and all around crappy. I'll spare you the details, but it was a pretty bad day. At the end of it, both Captain America and I wanted nothing more than to go to bed and pull the covers over our head (together, of course). But in the end, I looked at him and he looked at me, and we started talking about how blessed we were to have each other to help us through days like the one we'd just had. And how we'd had fifteen years of supporting each other, through good times and bad; and how we'd love to have fifteen more, then fifteen more after that.

So I picked up my purse, he grabbed the car keys, and we went out to dinner, even though we were both worn out. He gave me a sweet card and I gave him a funny one, but we gave each other a whole lot more than that - we gave each other smiles and laughs and good memories to wash away the strain of the day. When the sh*t hits the fan, it's really good to have someone you can depend on to tilt the fan in the other direction, at least for a little while.

And you know what else? You don't always have to be the one who needs the fan tilted. Tilting it for someone else makes you feel just as good. So the next time you've had a really bad day, pick up the phone and call someone who might be dealing with some crap of their own, and do a little cheering up. You'll cheer yourself up in the process.

Your Weight On Other Worlds

Ever wonder how much you'd weigh on the moon? I mean, c'mon - weightlessness must be cool! On the moon, you could eat all the chocolate you want and still float like Neil Armstrong, right?

Um, no. According to this INTERPLANETARY WEIGHT CALCULATOR, I'd weigh about 20 pounds on the moon (dag nabbit!), and so would you. I'd tip the scale at around 50 pounds on Mars, achieve my ideal weight on Venus. :)

It's a fun way to spend 2 minutes, and see some great graphics of the solar system. Go check it out!

Specters and Spirits and Ghosts... Oh, My!

I did a guest blog for a friend of mine the other day, Sandy Barkevich. (Thanks again for having me, Sandy!) :) Since I'm up to my neck in revisions and proofing, I thought I'd republish it here as today's blog entry. Here it is:

-------------
My name is Terri Garey, and I once lived in a haunted house.

Too dramatic? Okay, let me try again. (Even though it’s true.)

*ahem*

Hi, my name is Terri Garey. Why yes, my name does rhyme, doesn’t it? (Go ahead and giggle. Everyone does. ) I write paranormal romance for Avon HarperCollins. My first book, DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY will be released September 2007, followed by the sequel, WHERE THE GHOULS ARE, in March of 2008. Both novels are about ghosts, voodoo and an extremely unlikely psychic—a former Goth girl named Nicki Styx, who runs a vintage clothing store in Little Five Points, Georgia. Poor Nicki has a brush with death—as in she dies, in case you didn’t get that—and comes back to life as an unwilling ‘ghoulfriend’ to the dead. Nicki finds out that the sweet hereafter ain’t always so sweet, and the here-and-now can be just as tricky. Throw in the hunky doctor who saved her life, some great sex, and a healthy dose of chills and giggles—well, that pretty much sums it up.

There. Was that introduction better? Now you more about me than most of my neighbors do.

So why do I write ghost stories for a living? In large part, because I once lived in a haunted house (see introduction #1). Because I live in the South, where ghost stories and a belief in things that go bump in the night is common (the cockroaches alone will give you nightmares). Because my mother had a near-death experience, and claimed to see angels at her bedside the week before she died. Because my very first crush was on an actor who played a vampire on the classic Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows. Because I never missed Creature Feature on Saturday afternoons. The Addams Family and Munsters reruns were the staples of my childhood, as were the campy old black and white movies like “Abbot and Costello Meet The Mummy”, but X-Files, Medium and Bones are the staples of my adulthood.

In short, because I’ve always been fascinated by the dark side, while clinging to the light with both hands. Which is kind of what happens to Nicki Styx in DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY. I mean, I love to hear about ghosts, but I wouldn’t wanna see one.

Which brings me back to the time I lived in a haunted house (c’mon… you didn’t think I’d drop a juicy tidbit like that and then leave ya hanging, did ya? What kind of “teller of ghost stories” would I be?). So here it is: When my husband and I were first married, we moved into a rental house in an older part of town. My teenage stepdaughter came to me one morning with a bizarre tale of how the bathroom door had opened all by itself, and the ghostly figure of a man had stuck his head around the door and “peeked” at her. Oddly enough, even though she was frightened, she hadn’t felt the need to shriek the house down (which is what I would’ve done), because she said the whole experience was more “eerie” than frightening. The man faded away while she stared, and then she went back to bed, trying to tell herself it was a bad dream.

I, on the other hand, was pretty freaked. So, I went next door to the neighbors, and asked what they knew about the history of our house. They were more than happy to share. It turns out that ten years earlier, the house had been the scene of a murder/suicide. The man who owned it had been quite a “player”, and one of his girlfriends had finally decided that if she couldn’t have him, no one would. So she came over one night, shot and killed him, then shot and killed herself. Creepy, huh? Even creepier was the fact that his body was found in the hallway, outside the bathroom door. I’ve got the actual newspaper article to prove it.

We moved out less than a month later. I just couldn’t take knowing two people had died there under such tragic circumstances, and I kept expecting somebody to pop up and shout, “Boo!” (or worse) any second. The house is still a rental property, which doesn’t surprise me one bit.

How about you? The French surrealist poet Paul Eluard once said, “There is another world, and it is in this one.” Anybody else out there with a ghostly experience you’d care to share?

Proof Pages and Tombstones

Aren't these tombstones cute? I just got the "proof pages" for DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY, and this graphic will be used at the start of every chapter! I just love it. The perfect little touch that really fits the book.

What are "proof pages", you may ask? They're the actual, typeset pages of the book, the very last step before the book is printed. I can now see that my first paperback will be 384 pages long (something I've always wondered - the page count of a manuscript is completely different from the page count in an actual paperback). I can see my copyright page, my dedication page, everything... just as it will look on the shelves.

It's mindblowing, actually. :) What's also mindblowing is that this THE FINAL TIME for going through and looking for typos (which I've already found, including one on the very first page), and correcting them with my trusty red pen. Wish me luck, and here's hoping I don't go blind in the process!

'Til Death Do Us Part Takes On New Meaning

Ok, time for today's "News Of The Weird". In case you haven't heard this story yet, there's a couple in Missouri who plans to have their wedding in a graveyard:

It's not the traditional "till death do us part," but Scott Amsler and Miranda Patterson believe getting hitched in a graveyard is just thinking outside the box.
Come September, the Illinois couple expects to pledge their undying love among the dearly departed in this St. Louis suburb's city cemetery, even though those who approved the request are dead set against seeing it become a trend.
The wedding wouldn't be out of character for Amsler, 27, a computer expert for a financial company by day and rehabber of old hearses by night.
The graveyard, he said, just has a certain tranquility and thriftiness for nuptials the young couple insists will be small, private and traditional - except for the bagpipes, Amsler's refurbished hearse and the throng of eternally silent witnesses.
"People are going to think how they want. I don't actively try to convince people that my interests are normal or logical," Amsler said. "I'm not a freak or Satan worshipper or cult member. It just goes with our theme."

I say "more power to 'em". Quiet, peaceful, a beautiful gazebo and an even more beautiful view, according to the bride.

The fact that the future groom gave the future bride a customized hearse named "Edgar" for a wedding gift far outshines the location of the nuptials for weirdness, if you ask me. :) What do you think? Is it disrespectful to get married in a graveyard, or not?

I Am, Therefore They Spam

As much as I hate to do it, I've been forced to enable "Comment Verification" on my blog. In the last couple of weeks, I've noticed a major increase in the amount of "spam comments" being left by morons who want to sell viagra and vitamins, low-interest loans, weight loss supplements and auto insurance. I deleted and ignored, sighing in annoyance but figuring I could deal with it without having to put any readers who'd like to leave comments through an extra step.

Yesterday, however, I got one trying to direct traffic to a "Lolita" sex porn site. I certainly didn't visit it, but the links made it clear that this particular spammer was promoting child porn, or at least, pornography involving women made to look like children.

All together, now - can we say "EWWWWW?"

Until someone, somehow discovers a way to track these spammers down and shut them down permanently, my only option is to block them through comment verification. They seem to be like cockroaches, multiplying exponentially. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to get rid of these spam vermin?

A New Look!

Ok, so you may have noticed that my blog looks a little different these days. :)

In anticipation of my upcoming releases, DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY and WHERE THE GHOULS ARE, I've given both my website and my blog a "makeover" to go with the cool new covers that Avon will be providing for the books. That little image at the upper right of this page (a woman's leg coming out of a crypt) came straight off the cover of DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY.

Yep, that's Nicki Styx's leg. You can just tell what a bad girl she is, can't you? :)

I have to be honest when I say that dayglo green and dayglo orange never entered my mind as colors that would one day be representative of my "brand" as a writer. But what I've learned is that the universe knows you better than you think it does... not only have I always been a total Halloween fiend, I now get to enjoy the colors and the images all year 'round!

So I decided to embrace my inner orange (and chartreuse), and go with the flow. And you know what? I love it! How about you?

An Eternal Embrace

I find this photo incredibly touching.

These two young lovers died and were buried together an estimated 5000 years ago, during the Neolithic period. They were just recently unearthed by archeologists:

ROME, Italy (AP) -- It could be humanity's oldest story of doomed love.

Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua. The site is just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of "Romeo and Juliet."

Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.

Further analysis showed that the woman died from an arrow to the chest, while the man died from an arrow to the spine. I can't help but wonder what their story really was - did she die first and he lay down next to her, taking an arrow to the spine? Or was he dying, and she lay down to be with him, dying where she lay? Or did others who loved them both pose them carefully after death?

It's so obvious which was the man and which was the woman. So sad. So incredibly tender.

Valentine, Be Mine

I'm happy to report that my handsome husband, Captain America, will live to see another Valentine's Day! (That's the way he looks at it, not me, though it's kinda nice to be able to inspire that kind of fear in a man. *g*)

Anyway, he greeted me this morning with a sweetly romantic card, and a beautiful Murano glass necklace. The man knows I love cool jewelry. I'm wearing it right now, as a matter of fact.

And what did I get him, you ask? I got him a reading lamp to put by his favorite chair. Not the most romantic gift, I know, but one I knew he would like. (I sent him flowers at work once and was delicately told that most men appreciate TLC more than flowers.)

And hey, Valentine's Day isn't over yet. :)

I'm On Amazon!

Omigosh!! DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY is available for pre-order on Amazon.com!



Earlier today, just on impulse, I went to Amazon and 'searched' for myself. And there I was! The cover art isn't up there yet, but will be soon (I saw the cover last week and it is awesome... I can't wait for my editor to give me the go-ahead to use it on my website!)

Do you have any idea how bizarre it is to see my name and my book title up on Amazon.com? I mean, my husband and I have bought SO MANY books there through the years, read so many reviews (reviews! ack!), browsed and searched and bought to our heart's content.

And now I'm up there, with other authors. It kinda makes it real.

Omigosh!

What A Guy Wants For Valentine's Day

My husband likes to call Valentine’s Day “Fear of Death Day”. He claims that every February 13th, desperate men like himself can be found in the card section of any drugstore with glazed eyes and panicky expressions, frantically reading through syrupy cards that they wouldn’t touch any other time of the year - each and every one of them petrified with fear at the thought of almost forgetting a Valentine for that special woman in their lives.

We women know better than to wait until the last minute, don’t we? We love looking through those romantic cards, not satisfied until we find the one that expresses our feelings perfectly. Or we go for humor, thinking our men will appreciate that more than flowery sentiments. But who are we really doing it for – them, or us?

The male perspective on Valentine’s Day is, quite obviously, very different from the female perspective. While we want romance, they just want to stay out of trouble – and perhaps, if they’re very lucky, a little bit more on the side (so to speak). They don’t want flowers at the office (too girly); those sexy underwear you bought him last year was only worn once (too uncomfortable); and those boxers with the big hearts on them are still in his drawer (too ridiculous). So what do they want?

Maybe this year we should look at Valentine’s Day a little differently. Not that we shouldn’t expect that special card, or that bouquet of posies, or that perfume we like so much – we do deserve some romance at least one day a year – because romance is what women want. But perhaps we should also consider what he really wants (aside from you greeting him at the door wearing nothing but a smile :).

Is he a sports fan? How about two tickets to the next game and your promise to cheerfully go with him, dressed in something you know he likes? You can stand one game, can’t you? If you can’t bring yourself to go that far, how about a hand-written IOU stating that during the next televised game he watches, you promise no interruptions of any kind and his favorite snacks on a tray beside the couch?

Does he work too hard? How about a Saturday or even just an evening when he can be completely alone – no kids, no yardwork, no dinner dishes, no honey-do list. You take the little darlings to the movies, to your sister’s, to the mall, or anywhere that gets all of you out of the house for a while.

Does he have any hobbies? A magazine subscription to Car & Driver, Runners World, Muscle & Fitness, Field & Stream or Sports Illustrated shows you’re paying attention to his interests, even if you don’t share them.

Does he cook? A new saucepan or a sharp set of knives isn’t out of line for the man who fancies himself a gourmet. If his skills are limited to the grill, a new set of outdoor grilling tools is probably well overdue.

A deep thinker? Can’t go wrong with a gift certificate to your neighborhood bookstore, and the promise of an uninterrupted few hours browsing to his heart’s content.

Is he Dad of the Year? A special photograph of the kids – either taken by you or professionally done – nicely framed in a masculine style (vs. cutesy), gives him something to display on his desk.

Does he like sweets? Who doesn’t? How about a freshly baked batch of chocolate chip cookies, or even just a bag of Hershey’s kisses to keep in his desk drawer?

Of course, if all else fails – never underestimate the old saying “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. His favorite meal, served by candlelight (perhaps a little Sade or Sinatra on the stereo) is sure to be appreciated. And after dinner, who knows? Just how special and romantic was that card he gave you?

Toppled Tombstone Pins Vandal

Ok, here's a weird news story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution that I just had to pass along. It creeped me out a little, but also made me laugh. I'll summarize:

A man was found last week in a Lilburn, GA graveyard, pinned beneath a headstone.

Police arrested Ezekiel Dejesus-Rodriguez, 24, early Saturday morning shortly after pulling him out from under a granite gravestone.Lilburn police found him about 2:40 a.m. after answering a call about moaning and shouting in the area. They found him screaming "No!" in the graveyard, according to a police report.

(Apparently, this disrespectful jerk had gone to the cemetery in the middle of the night, and knocked over NINE headstones. The ninth grave marker (or whoever was under it *cue spooky music*) decided not to let him get away with it. The guy ended up with a broken leg.)

Now here's the rest of the story: according to the cemetery caretaker, by the following Wednesday, eight of the tombstones (except the one who pinned the jerk) were standing again, and he didn't know how they got that way!

All the other stones had been returned to their proper place Wednesday, he said."We have talked to a few people who have put their own stones up. But we can't find anyone who claims to have put someone else's stones up," he said."We don't know how they all got put up. And no one has touched that one."

So whaddya think? Did the spirits of that cemetery get revenge on the guy who desecrated their graves?

An accident? Gravity? Bad luck? All I know for sure is that I would hate to be lying in the dark, leg broken, pinned by the weight of a marble headstone, while the dead lay all around me. The dead I hadn't shown any respect for.

Gives me the shivers.

A Few Feathers, Some Broken Eggshells

Well, it's official - my nest is empty.

My youngest son has moved into an apartment with three of his friends, and the house already seems so... well, empty.

I went into his room yesterday after he left and sat on the bed. Much of his stuff is still there, of course - the posters are still on the wall, the sports trophies are still on the shelf, the prized collection of glass animals that he's been gathering since he was a little boy (he's an animal lover and a Biology major) are in their case. I think those made me the saddest of all; young men don't play with little glass animal figurines, now do they? His priorities have shifted to bigger things (as well they should), like his friends and his grades and his social life and his future.

I helped him load a few boxes into his car yesterday, washed and folded his new sheets, bought him new pillows and a lamp, and generally kept a cheerful, upbeat attitude about the whole thing. But the whole time I was thinking, "It's the end of his childhood. I'll go to bed at night without knowing he's safe in his room, and when I wake up in the morning he won't be there. He won't be there ever again, not in the way it was before." And so, yes, I shed a few tears, alone there in his room, and I'll probably shed a few more.

I know it'll be okay. I know it's part of the pattern of life: we give birth to our children, but we don't own them. We spend the next eighteen years or so trying to give them wings to fly, but oh, how it hurts when the winds of change start blowing. Despite my feelings of sadness, I hope an updraft catches him and bears him aloft to where he can see the world laid out before him like a treasure trove. And I hope he chooses his treasures wisely, and handles them with care, just like he did those little glass animals.

They, along with his father and I, will still be here whenever he wants to visit.

Throw Me Some Beads!

Captain America and I went to the Gasparilla Parade this weekend (along with 400,000 others), and cleaned up in the bead department. This picture was taken early on, but you can see how even a camera pointed in my direction doesn't deter me from my quest for beads... I'm looking upward and lifting my arm to snag any beads being thrown in our direction. :) What you can't see is the water behind me (the parade is held along Bayshore Blvd.) or the colorful floats, the beautiful weather or the many, many people who turned out for a day of fun. My sister took this photo with her cellphone, and my husband took a lot of others, but Sis managed to hit "delete all" before uploading the rest. *sigh*

Captain America was particularly proud that the very first beads he caught were right up his patriotic little alley... here's a closeup in case you can't see them. We had a great time, lunging for trinkets, laughing and people watching, then we walked home and took a late afternoon nap. :)

Asked And Answered

“Published Authors Tell It Like It Is”

(This article is the first in a series in which published authors will be asked to share the benefit of their wit, wisdom and experience on various aspects of the publishing business. The questions will vary, but the intent will remain the same: to share, to educate, and to inspire.)
____________

There’s no “magic bullet” in publishing. Becoming a published author takes hard work and dedication. It requires commitment, perseverance, and the ability to withstand criticism. There are glorious highs and disappointing lows—the journey between “unpublished” to “published” can be a rollercoaster, a maze of choices, an overwhelming undertaking, particularly when we’re feeling discouraged.

But don’t despair. As members of RWA, we belong to a generous community. Many of our chapter mates are women who’ve already trod that difficult path to publication, and are willing to share what they’ve learned along the way. Becoming a published author is a dream come true, and for those of us who’ve achieved it, it’s a dream worth sharing.

Because I knew there were many wonderful women out there who stood ready to share, to encourage, and to help, I posed a question to the published members of RWAOnline, and many of them were kind enough to answer. The question was: “WHAT DO YOU FEEL MADE THE FINAL DIFFERENCE IN GOING FROM ‘UNPUBLISHED AUTHOR’ TO ‘PUBLISHED AUTHOR’? The answers were more varied than you might think, though the most common themes seems to be determination, improving your craft, and making your own luck.

Claire Delacroix equates the level of determination required to become published to the craft of writing itself. “I think that writers’ careers – like good books – have Dark Moments. Some authors have one dark moment – before making that first sale, before changing houses or agents, before breaking out – and some authors have lots of them. What these episodes have in common is that everything hangs in the balance. The author in a dark moment is a whisper away from giving up writing forever. The authors who can push through their dark moment and who find the confidence to carry on will invariably win big.” As the author of twenty-three historical novels as well as several contemporaries under the name of Claire Cross, Claire has proven that persistence pays off.

Determination was also a factor for Janice Lynn. “There were so many times it would have been easy to quit torturing myself with the pursuit of my dream. But quitting would have been a bigger torture. I made the decision to stick it out no matter what, and no rejection or public criticism would rob me of that determination.” Janice’s determination paid off big when she won the American Title contest with her sweet and funny Jane Millionaire. Janice is also a big believer in finding encouragement and camaraderie within writer’s groups. “Being a part of eHarlequin and RWA—attending conferences, meeting writers, editors and industry professionals, online groups—played a big role in getting published.” Once Janice got her foot in the door through the AT contest, she continued to persevere, and she’s now happily under contract for a series of medical romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon.

Another American Title finalist, Michele Ann Young, counts perseverance as a major factor, too. “I really had to pick myself up after a rejection. I tried to learn something from each experience and continually work at improving my writing."

For Harlequin Blaze author Tawny Weber, determination took the form of finding and focusing on the right editor. “The thing that made the biggest difference for me was finding an editor who got my voice, really liked my writing and encouraged me to keep trying,” said Tawny. “I kept myself in front of her through contests, including winning the Harlequin Blaze contest. I worked to hone my writing until I hit the right story for her.” Medallion’s Ann Macela and Triskelion author Kim Amburn agree. Ann says, “I had to find my editor, the one who liked my stories and my voice, the one who was willing to take something slightly different that didn’t fit into ‘conventional’ rules.” Kim Amburn targeted her editor at an advantageous time. “I approached an e-publisher at the beginning of an expansion,” says Kim. “For me, it was the editor.”

Cathy Clamp, who writes as a team with C.T. Adams, has made a howling success of her paranormal career at Tor Books. Captive Moon, third in the Tales of the Sazi series, is currently a finalist for the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Werewolf Romance. Cathy feels a great editor is critical for new authors, and that working to improve her craft was the key to her first sale. “For Cie and me, It was learning what we were doing wrong. Our editor walked us through and helped us see what the reader would find lacking, even though they wouldn’t be able to completely explain WHY it was lacking.”

Many published authors stress the need to improve writing skills through critique loops, online classes, books, and perhaps even more importantly—a critique partner who will tell you the truth. Lynnette Brogan, who writes paranormals for Triskelion, says “I searched for writing groups, crit partners, and books about the craft to improve my skills. I didn’t walk away, even after bad critiques and rejections. I took a step back, looked at the advice given to me, then applied the suggestions I thought helpful.”

Linda Ford feels that once she learned how to write a good synopsis, she was able to see her stories in a way she otherwise couldn’t. “I sent my synopses to RWAOL for critiquing and slowly, with gentle help, I figured out how to see the story as a whole, how the give the characters a motivated journey from beginning to end, and hopefully, how to develop a romance between them. I wouldn’t think to go ahead with a story until I’ve had several people look at my synopsis.” Linda’s theory obviously worked, as she’s now publishing inspirationals for Heartsong.

Kate Pearce believes in taking risks. “Though my historicals were doing well in contests, they were still a hard sell in the current market. I made a decision to spend a year writing different things just to see if I could.” Kate turned up the heat and made the switch to erotica, writing for Ellora’s Cave and recently signing a two-book deal for Kensington’s Aphrodesia line. Kelle Z. Riley thinks risk-taking is essential also. “Risk taking is uncomfortable, but I think critical to success. Don’t play it safe by writing the stories you’ve seen are already successful. Risk creating something original.” Keziah Hill says her success was achieved by being “true to her voice’, and “writing from the heart”, regardless of what others are doing.

Erotica author Emma Sinclair believes it all comes down to luck—the kind of luck you make for yourself. “You have to love the book and then find the right editor that loves it just as much as you do. And to do that, you have to know the market. Who’s buying what, who wants what? Your chances of getting ‘lucky’ are greatly increased by knowledge.” Kelle Riley agrees, “Luck is finding the right editor, agent, publicist or reading public. There is little you can do to control luck. The trick is to be in as many places as possible, to maximize your chances of getting lucky. Unlike cards, this is where stacking the deck in your favor is a good thing. Follow all of the leads that you can, because each can lead to another. Be nice to the editor who rejects you. She will remember your professionalism. As you build a reputation for being a professional, as your name slowly gains credentials and becomes more visible, the editors and agents will begin to remember you. Sometimes all you need is a little edge. That professionalism or exposure may make the difference between an editor reading your work when she’s frazzled at the end of the day vs. putting it aside to read with her morning Starbucks. And if you’re ready and your work is ready, that little bit of ‘luck’ may be all the difference you need.”

For some of us (including me, Terri Garey), finding an agent who believed in us was key to that first sale. I was lucky enough to sign with the agency of my dreams, and it was their encouragement, belief in my story and business savvy that now has me writing paranormal contemporaries for my dream house, Avon HarperCollins. Michele Ann Young feels the same way. “The big difference was getting my agent. Having an agent opened more doors, and while at the end of the day it is the work that sold, having someone else in your corner is a huge help.” Lynnette Brogan says, “I found an agent who believed in me and my story as much as I did.”

Determination, improving your craft, making your own luck, finding the editor or agent that’s right for you — I wish I could call them “secrets”, but secrets are things never meant to be shared. The published authors of RWAOnline are happy to share their stories. Thanks so much to all the authors who participated in this month’s topic, and I hope everyone enjoyed the first-hand insight into the journey from “unpublished” to “published”. The next Asked and Answered question will be: “WHAT WAS IT ABOUT THAT ‘WINNING’ MANUSCRIPT THAT TOOK YOU FROM SUBMISSION TO SALE?” Look for it in the next edition of RWAOnline’s LoveBytes.

Ooh, I can’t wait to find out what our published authors have to say. Can you?

___________________
Terri Garey is the author of two upcoming paranormal tales, Dead Girls Are Easy and Where The Ghouls Are. Both novels are about ghosts, voodoo and an extremely unlikely psychic - a former Goth girl who becomes an unwilling ‘ghoulfriend’ to the dearly departed. Dead Girls Are Easy will be an Avon September 2007 release, followed by the sequel, Where The Ghouls Are, in March 2008. Visit Terri on the web.

And The Winner Is...

I've been holding a contest over on my website to give away a free registration to the Romance Writers of America "Signature of Success" conference, to be held in Dallas the week of July 11-15, 2007. Over three hundred people signed up for a chance to have their registration fee paid for, and I promised to hold the drawing as soon as RWA opened the conference to sign-ups.

I'm very pleased to announce that THERESA MOBLEY of Kansas will now be able to attend one of the best writers conferences out there! Here's what she said when I sent her an email letting her know she won:

"Oh my God!!! You must be my fairy godmother. I'm so excited I can't stand it. I had almost made up my mind that I couldn't afford it this year and then this comes in out of the blue and now I get to go!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Theresa also promised to "pay it forward", which made me very happy, because that's what I was trying to do by offering registration as a prize. I absolutely love writers conferences, and feel they're invaluable. Workshops, networking, fun with friends, and who knows who you'll meet who might help your further your writing career? So if Theresa does something nice for someone down the road because someone once did something nice for her, I'll feel like I accomplished two very good things today.

And just for the record, I've never been called a fairy godmother before, but I kinda like it. :)

So I'm registered, Theresa is registered, and I can't wait. Anyone else planning on going to Dallas this year?

Fireworks From My Front Porch

It's Gasparilla time here in the Big Guava.

What that means is that here, in the town where I live, it's time for our local version of Mardi Gras.

Our town calls itself the "Big Guava" because we have a large Cuban population, and we call our Mardi Gras celebration "Gasparilla" in honor of the dread pirate, Jose Gaspar, who supposedly sailed up and took over the city in the late 1700's (I say "supposedly" because evidently no one can really decide whether it's just a colorful legend designed to attract tourists or an actual event.) Either way, it's an excuse to PAR-TAY! We have our "krewes" of Tampa elite (led by the original, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla) who hold lavish, period dress balls and coronations (and take over the society pages of the newspaper) for a month or two beforehand. We have three separate, gigantic parades held at three different times (the Children's Parade, the Night Parade, and the huge, day-long spectacle called Gasparilla Parade), a mock flotilla invasion involving thousands of privately owned boats led by a pirate vessel stuffed to the gills with drunken/shouting/sword-wielding businessman/pirates. It's been an annual tradition since 1904, and I've grown up loving it (well, except for the "elitism" of the krewes, but that's something I can ignore in favor of the fun). :)

Anyway, yesterday was the Children's Parade, and it's always held along Bayshore Blvd., which is just a couple of blocks from my house. I didn't need to attend the parade to enjoy the best parts of the show... the Red Baron aviation show in the late afternoon, and the fireworks blowout that evening. The Red Baron bi-planes were awesome... 4 to 6 old-fashioned barn-burners, diving, circling and swooping in perfectly timed, synchronized moves that left trails of smoke across the bright blue sky. I watched them from my back yard while I did a little gardening. But the best display was in the early evening, just after dark, when giant booms announced the firework show.

I went out and sat on my front porch, watching the colorful explosions light up the night through the canopy of oak trees in my yard. It was a breath-taking, awe-inspiring spectacle. No matter how many times I've seen fireworks, I get the same feeling. But this time, I was struck by how incredibly lucky I was to be sitting in the quiet comfort of my darkened porch, sipping a glass of wine as flowers of fire glittered in the air above my head.

Next weekend I'll go brave the crowds and attend the main parade, shouting for beads and boogeying with the marching bands along with everyone else. But last night I had my own private fireworks display, and that's what I'll remember long after the beads get tossed in a drawer.

The Happily Ever After Cafe

I'm participating in a joint blog with other published authors, called THE HEA CAFE (where happily ever after is always on the menu). Each month, authors who have a book being released that month will be featured, and each week a question will be posed to the group as a whole, then opened for discussion. We're already having a great time over there - this week's topic is "How did you make your first sale?".

Head on over, grab a virtual mocha latte, and read about what it took for some published authors to get published.

Billy Is 'Wirth' It

No, that's not a typo in the title of this blog post. :) Today's blog is about actor/director Billy Wirth, who is probably best known for his role as a young vampire in the cult classic Lost Boys (with Kiefer Sutherland, hottie), and his incredibly sexy role as the 'other man' in The Red Shoes Diaries (with David Duchovny, another hottie). If you've ever seen the scene in Red Shoe Diaries where Billy helps the heroine try on a pair of shoes, you'll never, ever think of shoe shopping the same way again! Whew!

Anyway, Billy is and always has been the inspiration for the character of Dr. Joe Bascombe in DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY and WHERE THE GHOULS ARE. He has incredible hair, incredible eyes, and a killer smile that is quite simply, 'to die for'. The man oozes sexuality in a way few men could ever hope to manage. There's this one scene in Red Shoes where Billy is wearing nothing except a pair of unzipped jeans, and the heroine is slowing kissing her way down and... um...what was I saying?

Well, needless to say, Captain America knows he has only to pop in that movie to get lucky pretty quick. :)

So who does it for you? My friend Janice is obsessed with Matt McConaughey, my friend Tawny is a Johnny Depp-a-holic, while Leslie and Carla are die-hard Gerry Butler fans. I admit to admiring a variety of good-looking men, but Billy Wirth holds a special place in my heart. The part called "so sexy it hurts". :)

My Husband Cracks Himself Up

I was talking to Captain America last night about the concept of 'branding' as a marketing tool. The idea with branding is that you project a style and image that is consistent with what you do, and you stick with it. McDonald's golden arches, Chik-Fil-A's goofy cows, the logos of innumerable products on the grocery store shelves... in short, if you've done your branding right, you don't even have to remember the name of something, just the image, and you know what you're getting. Where it breaks down for me is trying to 'brand' myself as an author. How do you brand a person/concept vs. an actual thing?

An excellent suggestion I read recently was to have someone who knows you very well (i.e., Captain America) provide you with a list of five adjectives that describe you as a person, and go from there. I knew I was in trouble the second I saw the wicked gleam in his eye.

For Captain America (former Marine officer, Ph.D., highly respected businessman) is the only person I know with a more bizarre sense of humor than mine. One of his favorite habits (aside from singing nonsensical ditties to the pets, playing Sudoku and writing poetry) is to make up words. He's fond of saying that one of his goals is to make me laugh every day, which he usually manages. In short, he's an Uber-Goob. Anyway, when I returned from my morning walk, he'd left me his list of five adjectives, which, to his adorably twisted mind, describe me best:

Gorgean - gorgeous + Aegean, as in "The gorgeous woman dives off the cliff into the blue Aegean Sea, long yellow hair streaming."

Beauquatic - beautiful + aquatic, as in "The beautiful woman rises to the surface from the blue aquatic deep."

Popsicklic - an ongoing fascination with no-sugar-added tangerine popsicles, as in "You have an orange popsicklic tongue."

Buddhistic - a collector of little buddha figures, as in "Oddly, I've never known anyone who is buddhistic besides you, sweetness."

Eggwellian - someone whose writing success each day depends on the scrambled eggs her husband fixes her each morning. Otherwise, the world might end. No example sentence needed.

For the record, (1) Captain America accomplished his daily goal, and (2) I do not collect Buddhas (I only have 2 or 3) :)

Though these words are not the five words I'd use to describe myself, they were certainly personal and very, very sweet. If you had to pick five words to describe yourself, what would they be?

One Step Closer

I finished the copy edits for DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY today. Yay, me! They've been handed off to the UPS man to be trucked back to NYC and into the hands of the 'production editor'. It seems as if things are truly moving forward now, and after a long year of waiting, things are starting to happen.

The copy edit process went like this:

I got an automated early morning phone call from UPS last week, telling me that an overnight package from HarperCollins was being delivered and would require a signature. I chewed my nails and waited by my front door like a good girl, and few hours later, I signed for a thick package from my editor; my electronically edited manuscript (using Word's 'Track Changes'), 2 pages of written instructions on how to handle HC's new editorial process, and 2 sheets of shorthand notes from the copy editor himself, documenting what he'd corrected or changed. It looked like Greek. Teeny, tiny Greek. And they wanted it back ASAP.

After a quick freak-out, I had to familiarize myself with copy editing symbols (what the heck does that squiggle mean? Why is there a line above this word and a line below this one? What if I want to add a line of dialogue? I liked that comma where it was, thank you.) Anyway, I had to go over the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb, red pen in hand, and make sure every line read exactly as I wanted it to. One final time to edit my baby before it goes into production.

The copy editor had included his name and his email address on his notepages. I sent him a thank you note via email (he did a very nice job correcting my chronic misuse of em-dashes (seriously!) and he was pretty surprised to hear from me. Evidently, most authors do not offer thank you notes to the guys with the red pens. :) Even more interesting, he's a writer himself, and has published a 'psychedelic memoir' of living in Haight-Ashbury during the '60's, entitled I THINK, THEREFORE WHO AM I? Isn't that clever? I ordered it. I find it fascinating that the highly detail-conscious and very skilled copy editor who worked on my book is a former hippy. And a very nice man. Thanks for the relatively painless edit, Mr. W. :)

So anyway, I survived a week of careful copyediting (and so did my eyesight), and the manuscript is gone. I always wondered what the process would be like, and now I know. And I'm one step closer to seeing DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY on the shelves!

Butter My Buns And Call Me A Biscuit!!

I've been given a cover quote for my upcoming book, DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY! Are you ready? Because here it is:

"Nicki Styx is a heroine to die for in this witty and wonderful new series. DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY will both thrill and chill you as talented Terri Garey brings to life a fresh and funny cast of characters." - NYT Best-selling author Teresa Medeiros

OMIGOSH! Did you just read that? I've read it about fifty gazillion times already and I'm still not sure if Teresa Medeiros is talking about me and my book! Is she? You'd tell me if I was nuts and just imagining those words on the screen in front of me, right?

Teresa Medeiros is the New York Times best-selling author of 17 books, and I've been a fan of her fabulous, breath-taking historicals and deliciously sexy paranormals for years. Her current release is THE VAMPIRE WHO LOVED ME, the sequel to one of my all-time favorites, AFTER MIDNIGHT. Teresa is a seven-time Rita finalist, two-time PRISM winner, and two-time recipient of the Waldenbooks Award for bestselling fiction.

And she read my book! *insert squeal here*

And she liked it! *insert even bigger squeal here*

Am I babbling? 'Cuz I think I'm babbling. :)

Anyway, I had to tell the world (ha! As if the world reads my blog!) and say a big, humongous public 'THANK YOU' to Teresa Medeiros. Who is awesome. Awesome!

Guest Blogging

I'm guest blogging today over on Avon Fanlit! The topic is 'Guilty Pleasures'.

And speaking of guilt, can I guilt anybody into leaving me a comment over there so I don't feel lonely? :)

One Day At A Time

Remember the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for?" Just a few short weeks ago I was whining about waiting. It seems that as soon as the new year arrived, so did everything else!

1) All of a sudden, a flurry of emails between my publisher, my agents and myself regarding back cover copy and taglines for DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY (every time it seemed to be settled, more brainstorming was required - fun in a way, nerve-wracking in others). Do you have any idea how difficult it is to write those little plot summaries on the back cover of a book, make it sound witty, fascinating, and manage to please all parties involved while you're doing it? What will the end product be? Stay tuned...

2) My long-awaited editorial feedback for WHERE THE GHOULS ARE arrived. Ack! Do I have work to do! (But damn, it's gonna be good when I'm finished! Did I ever mention how much I love my editor? The woman's a genius.)

3) My even longer-awaited copy edits for DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY came a couple of days later, and by the way, they need them now (okay, I have two weeks, if I don't go blind and pull all my hair out first).

4) I just started a regular newsletter column for RWAOnline called ASKED AND ANSWERED: Published Writers Tell It Like It Is. Six times a year, I'll be asking a writing/publishing/industry question of published authors and writing an article on their opinions. I've already started the ball rolling collecting the answers. It'll be fun, but it'll also be some work.

5) I was asked to do a guest blog on over on Avon Fanlit (which will be up this coming Monday - I'll be nagging for comments then, so I don't look like a total loser!) :)

6) I was on a roll with my third book in the Nicki Styx series, IF YOU GOT IT, HAUNT IT, but now that manuscript will have to wait while I attend to other stuff.

And I just got some great new books I've been wanting to read, too. Thank goodness I got that fire hazard of a Christmas tree hauled out to the curb and the decorations all packed away!

It'll all be fine, just seems a bit overwhelming at the moment. Coping mechanisms, anyone?

Science Tackles The Afterlife

I'm reading a very strange book by Mary Roach called Spook: Science Tackles The Afterlife. Ms. Roach is also the author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (I tried to read that one a while back, but my stomach just couldn't take it.) One might be tempted to feel sorry for Mary Roach because of her - shall we say, 'unfortunate'? - last name, but she dispels any need for lingering sympathy pretty quickly.

The woman is not only far, far too intelligent for her own good, she's without a doubt one of the wittiest, most clever writers I've ever read. Such a talent for puns, for double-entendres, for tongue-in-cheek delivery of one-liners! I'm blown away how anyone can take the dry logic of science, apply it to a subject as controversial as the existence of the afterlife, and make her observations both thought-provoking and funny. Chapter titles run the gamut from: You Again (a visit to the reincarnation nation) to Hard To Swallow (the giddy, revolting heydey of ectoplasm). And revolting it was, let me tell you - I now know a great deal more about the parlor tricks of the early spiritualists than I ever really cared to!

People magazine describes her as 'funny and smart... since she's a scientist at heart, she also lasers through the smoke and mirrors'. Oops. No guest blogging here, I suppose! Obviously a skeptic, she is nothing if not thorough - virtually every chapter requires a visit to a different part of the world and an interview with an 'expert' or two in various fields of paranormal research. Scientific efforts to weight a soul, controlled experiments with renowned mediums such as Alison DuBois and John Edward, research into whether 'ghost sightings' are caused by electromagnetic fields and/or ultrasound, the validity of electronic voice phenomena, possible explanations for near-death experiences; you name it, Mary Roach looks into it and serves up her information with wit and side dish of sass. Some of the arcane facts she discovers in her research are, quite simply, hilarious.

It's not a book for everyone, but I'm loving it. :) Anybody else like to read things that are a little 'out of the ordinary'?

Bring On The New Year!

Does it make me a bad person to say that I'm really, really glad that Christmas is behind us? So many obligations, so many expectations, so many things to do, say, drink, eat, buy, wrap, return, decorate and take down to be packed away.

I, for one, am looking forward to the coming year in a way I never have before... my first book will be coming out in the fall, my youngest will finish his third year of college, my husband and I will welcome a new baby into the family, and with any luck I'll get that long-awaited Alaskan cruise along with a couple of other smaller trips. Yay!

I have my health, my Captain America, dear friends, a beautiful home, and a new career. I don't make New Year's resolutions, but if I did, I'd resolve to appreciate each and every day of the coming year. And if I could manage to lose this extra 'Christmas' weight fairly quickly, that would be a bonus. :)

What about you? What are you looking forward to in 2007?

SOLD!!!

My dear friend Janice Lynn has just sold two medical romances to Harlequin! Her first (as yet to be titled) will be a November 2007 release! Some of you may remember Janice for her delightful, funny and oh-so-romantic single title, JANE MILLIONAIRE, but writing a series for Harlequin is, to quote Janice, "her dream come true".

I'm so proud of her for never giving up that dream. I'm also very proud to have her as a friend - Janice is an extraordinary woman. She's sweet, fun and bubbly, balancing a busy family life and a full-time career along with her writing. She's imminently suited to write those medical romances - she has a Masters in Nursing from Vanderbilt and works as a nurse practitioner in a private family practice. And just look how pretty she is!! :)

Congratulations on a well-deserved victory, Janice... it couldn't have happened to a nicer person, I'm just glad I got to be around to enjoy it with you. You GO, girl!

Oh. Wow.

Do you know what this is?

Those of us who've been pregnant do.

Someone I know and love is expecting (no, it isn't mine - bite your tongue or I'll bite it for you!) - and I spent quite a bit of time with them at the doctor's office yesterday, watching this little peanut wiggle and twist and turn. Only 11 weeks old, people... 11 weeks! See the profile of the face? Start at the upper right and follow the profile downward: there's the forehead, the nose, the mouth. The whiter areas are the cheekbones and chin... bone is already forming. The little arms and legs are there, but in this image the left arm is kinda 'folded' against the body so you can't seem it too well (the white streak at the bottom of the photo is the bone of the arm).

Video showed it all - a still photo can't quite capture it. Two arms, two legs, five fingers and five toes (respectively) on each limb (thank goodness!)

But the anxiety isn't over yet. The reason we were at the doctors is because this is a 'high-risk' pregnancy. I won't go into all the details, but Little Peanut isn't in the clear yet, and we won't know the test results until next week. Cross your fingers and say a prayer, will you?

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Writing is not for wimps. One might think that coming up with story ideas and getting them on paper in a coherent, entertaining style might be hard enough, but it's truly only the beginning. Learning your craft, honing your craft, creating your characters, developing your dialogue, intriguing your readers; all challenges to overcome, and all things you have some measure of control over. Then there's the inevitable rejection letters from editors and agents, the well-meaning (and sometimes not-so-well meaning) critiques from friends, family members and fellow writers, self-doubt, writer's block, worries about promotion, websites, and reviews.

But the worst part is the waiting.

Right now I'm waiting on several things. I'm waiting on a cover for Dead Girls Are Easy. I'm waiting to find out if two big name authors who've been asked for cover quotes are going to give them. I'm waiting on the final copy edits before the book goes to print. I'm waiting for first-round line edits on Where The Ghouls Are. I'm waiting to hear if a current proposal for an entirely new book will be accepted.

I wrote an article a while back called What Are You Waiting For?. It's basically about how waiting is useful for its own sake, and that you should be getting your stuff out there while keeping busy in the meantime, and I still believe it as well as practice it.

But, man... sometimes I sure get tired of waiting. What are you waiting for?

Talk To The Hand

"Doctor, it hurts when I do this."

"Then don't do that."

That's kind of how the conversation went yesterday when I went to see a doctor about some problems I've been having with my right hand. Pain, numbness, swelling, tingling (gee, those last two symptoms sound sorta fun!), all getting worse, particularly when I type. His immediate recommendation?

Don't type.

Gee, Doc, no can do. I'm a writer, you see. Writers write. Writers type. Writers use their computers to do research, to put words on paper, to play adventure games... (um, forget that last part).

To make a long story short (because it hurts to type it), it appears I've fallen victim to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Not only am I now wearing one of those stupid wrist splints, I have to go to a neurologist tomorrow for a 'nerve study'.

(Yes, Doctor, I have nerves - and you're getting on them.)

Nah, he's a nice guy. Not his fault. I'm hoping there will be a simple fix (can you say 'cortisone shot'?), and no need for surgery. In the meantime, he's given me pain meds to take if it gets really bad (can you say Vicodin?), and is sending me to his best 'hand guy'.

I really had to bite my lip on that one. :)

That's What Friends Are For

Ya know, all the recent media blitz over Paris Hilton and Britney Spears has really touched my heart. I mean, look at them here, holding hands as they stumble out of a private party at 5:30 in the morning. Are they like two little drunken peas in a pod, or what? (... and speaking of peas in a pod, Britney evidently loves to showcase her peas, along with various other body parts.)

So what makes a good friend? Is it the one who tells you that you look 'totally hot' when in reality you look like a hooker, or the one who tells you that you need to 'button up a little', or maybe throw on a sweater? Is it the one who tells you that your writing is 'fabulous', or the one who tells you it needs a little polishing? Is it the one who buys you another drink when you've already had too many, or the one who quietly takes your car keys and drives you home?

My husband, Captain America, says that your true friends are the people you'd call if you found out you only had 24 hours to live. I'm terrible about calling people - even the people I love the most - but it really made me think... who would I call?

Besides my immediate family members and my three sisters, there's (in no particular order):
- the friend who's been like brother to me for the last 25 years
- the friend who I've known since the 4th grade
- the friend who I met when our sons started kindergarden together
- the friend who lives nearby who never has a bad word to say about anything or anybody despite having plenty of reason to
- the friend who used to be my cleaning lady but now runs her own business
- the friend down the street who's going through a tough time with her son
- my agents, Annelise and Christina (they might need to know I won't be able to make deadline) :)
- the friend who works for Captain America, and looks after him at the office the same way I do at home
- at least 15-20 other friends I've made through various writing loops who've shared the ups and downs of the last five years

I may exceed my 24 hour time limit, but it'll be time well spent. What about you? Who would you call if you had to (in the words of that really great Tim McGraw song) 'live like you were dying'? Besides your family, who are your best friends?

Shake Your Booty... someplace else. Please.

Ever heard the term 'booty shorts'? I hadn't.

I went Christmas shopping this weekend at the mall. Crowds are not my favorite thing, but my daughter asked me to go, and I was up for getting out of the house and maybe getting a jump start on Old Saint Nick. There we were, in the middle of a throng of shoppers; Moms, Dads, little kids lined up for Santa Claus, Christmas songs in the air. We're walking along, eyeing the merchandise and doing a little 'people watching' while were at it, when what to my wondering eyes should appear?

A woman wearing these:

Only - believe me - she didn't look nearly that good in them. Late 20's, maybe even early 30's, with way too much 'junk in the trunk', if you get my drift. And get this - she was with her mother (I know, because as we passed, I heard her call the woman 'Ma'). Does the word 'gross' mean anything to you, Ma? How about the word 'cellulite'? Ring any bells?

Bewildered, I looked around, wondering if the North Pole had suddenly turned into a stripper pole, or if I was just caught in the Twilight Zone. Judging by the reactions of the people surrounding me, I wasn't the only one agog at the woman's outfit. I was actually tempted to ask her if she realized that she'd forgotten to put her pants on before leaving the house. Or maybe she'd been mugged in the mall parking lot, and someone had stolen her skirt. "Um, excuse me, Miss, but I think someone's taken the other half of your outfit." Better yet, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Listen, I'm all for dressing the way you like in the privacy of your own home. Your man like a little booty? Show it to him.

Just don't show it to me.

Or to that little girl who still leaves out cookies and milk for Santa Claus, and thinks that when she grows up, she'll be loved for who she is, not for how much skin she shows. Geesh.

Gives new meaning to the word 'cheeky', doesn't it?

Let's Put the 'Fun' back in 'Dysfunctional'

Ah, the joys of the holidays. Two of my all-time favorite movies are HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS with Holly Hunter and Robert Downey, Jr., and the classic, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION, starring Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid. Both are 'must-haves' for the holiday season, and both will be watched many times over this week (at least by me).

Why, you may ask, do I so enjoy laughing my butt off at the holiday drama and trauma of dysfunctional families like the ones portrayed in these movies?

Because my family is even worse, and it warms the cockles of my little heart to know I'm not alone out there. Sometimes things are so bad that you just gotta laugh, and so laugh I will. :)

C'mon now... we've all sat across the table from someone we really didn't care for, and smiled 'til our teeth hurt, haven't we? We've all rolled our eyes and bitten our lip and entertained visions of sweet potato casserole dumped over a relative's head (or is that last part just me?). We've all poured ourselves that extra glass of wine, popped that extra beer, and looked for a quiet place to hide in a room crowded by opinionated family members who barely speak to you the rest of the year. We've all been polite and gritted our teeth instead of biting somebody's head off, we've all slaved over an elaborate holiday meal for people who have absolutely no appreciation for the effort, we've all ignored thinly veiled insults disguised as bland pleasantries, and we've all turned up the heat to fend off a cold shoulder hidden behind a warm hug of greeting.

What? You haven't? Oh, well... either you're incredibly lucky or your nose just sprouted a couple of inches, Pinocchio. :)

This year promises to be be even more dysfunctional than most, if that's possible, so I've decided that my only option is to laugh. To observe the weirdness with a detached eye, to chuckle (giggle, even), and TAKE NOTES.

After all, I've got more books to write. :) Truth is stranger than fiction, and I could never make up half this stuff.

I challenge you to make the most of your holidays this year - take the stuff that makes you grit your teeth and figure out how to use it to your advantage. Grandma June put her false teeth in her water glass? Use it. Dear old Grandpa Joe boring everybody to death with his war stories? Use it. Baby sister pitching a hissy fit because you made her sit next to Aunt Thelma? Use it.

And if by some chance, you just can't manage it, c'mon over in the corner with me... I've got an extra bottle of wine stashed under the couch in case of emergency, and I'll be happy to share it.

Meez Like :) You Like?

Okay, I blame my friend Sheila for this. She told me about a website called 'Meez' where you can create your own animated characters; you choose the hair, the eyes, the clothes, the background, etc. I'd been wanting a more 'personalized' avatar that wasn't an actual photo of myself, and voila!:



I'm such a geek. :)

Once you've created your character, you can save it several different ways. Headshots, bodyshots, animated, non-animated. This is the animated version of me. You've got a half-hour or so to kill, don'tcha? Go do one for yourself, and let me see it!

If Today Is Your Birthday...

...then Happy Birthday to us! :)

Yes, another birthday has come around to prove to me that I'm not getting any younger. I'm not giving up without a fight, though - already donned my war paint (i.e., makeup), and dressed in 'power colors' of black and red. My secret motto is 'Look like a million bucks, feel like a million bucks'. Some people say you are what you eat - I tend to think 'you are what you wear'. LOL

Anyway, before I share my 'horoscope of the day', I want to share one that I saved from the year 2000:

If today is your birthday, you are dynamic, inquisitive and very serious where romance is concerned. You are a natural writer, psychologist. you travel more than most. One day you could write a novel.

When I read this, my first thought was 'Gee, I have always wanted to write a novel... maybe I should give it a shot." And six years later, I've written six novels and am hard at work on my seventh. (The first two were pretty much crap, the second two were pretty darn good but 'hard sells', and the last two will be published by HarperCollins next year!) I'm not claiming that all that hard work was the result of the stars being aligned - but reading those words sparked something in me - the 'what if' that propelled me into a whole new career.

Today, my birthday horoscope isn't quite so specific:

Stamina and a discerning eye: Those two qualities enable you to fix just about anything that needs adjusting right now. It's wise to concentrate on your own issues. Friends need to learn how to get out of their own messes.

Ouch. That'll be a hard one... I have so many wonderful friends, and while I can be a bit reclusive, I'd never turn a friend away who had a mess that needed solving. As to concentrating on my own issues, I've got four more books to write in the next two/three years, and plenty of other issues to concentrate on while I'm at it. :)

I plan on doing it all, without neglecting my friends any more than I already do.

Look out world! This Scorpio wants her birthday cake and plans to eat it, too!

Temptation

I'm sitting here staring at a bag of leftover Halloween candy, and thinking about the nature of temptation. I never eat candy (seriously... well, hardly ever) :). I'm no saint or anything, it just that the way I deal with that particular temptation is to never have any in the house. But here it is, and here I am... and man, that Reese's peanut butter cup has my name written all over it!

It's not just the candy that has me thinking about temptation. I'm working on the third book in my Nicki Styx series, and poor Nicki has some serious temptation on her hands. She's a former 'bad girl' who's trying very hard to be good, but the devil's in the details and the 'details' are pretty damn tempting. Which brings to mind a question I've wondered about for a long time: is being tempted as bad as actually acting on that temptation? Does the fact that we're tempted to do something make us as guilty as if we actually did it?

Take, for example, that hunky guy who works behind the counter of your local Starbucks. Does the fact that you'd rather have him than the Venti Mocha Latte make you a bad person? What about that adorable guy who works in the next cubicle? Does the fact that you look forward to seeing him everyday (even though you're married), fantasize about him (even though he's married) mean that you're mentally cheating? *Please note, Dear Reader, I work at home - but I've done my time in a cubicle. :) Dilbert has nothing on me...

Anyway, we're tempted all the time, aren't we? Tempted to do things we know we shouldn't - eat too much, drink too much, tell a little white lie here, a fib there, lie about our age, our weight, our successes, our failures, our whereabouts and our habits. Sometimes we give in to temptation with no real consequences - other times the consequences can be disastrous.

When you think of your greatest temptation, what comes to mind? I'd tell you mine, but my mouth's too full of Reese's peanut butter to talk clearly. :)

A Frightfully Good Time Was Had By All...

I tried all day yesterday to upload some pictures from my Halloween party, but Blogger just wouldn't cooperate. *sigh* But today, the forces of the universe are flowing in my direction, and here they are! First up, a nice shot of the graveyard:


Here's three of the cutest witches you'll ever see:

He wants his mummy:


Like mother, like daughter (that's me with the bird):


One seriously weird dude:


Madame Zelda draws a crowd:


It was tons of fun, tons of candy, tons of people and tons of work! LOL But we all had fun, and the best part is that we raised almost $500.00 for the Freedom Playground Foundation, which is a local charity working to build an 'all-access' playground for handicapped children.

Now can somebody come help me take all this Halloween stuff down?

'Telvira' Wishes You A Happy Halloween!

How do you like my.... pumpkins? LOL

My friend Kimmi is a whiz with Photoshop, and was kind enough to 'morph' a photo of me and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. (hence, 'Telvira') It was too good to go to waste. And please, make no mistake - my 'pumpkins' are nowhere near that big!

Today is a big day (and night) at my house... Madame Zelda's Haunted Graveyard (i.e., my backyard) is bursting with tombstones, dripping with purple lights and cobwebs, and ready to rock the neighborhood! All I need now is a little more 'fog juice' for the fog machines, some black lipstick and grape juice for the 'witch's brew'. I have a crew of giggly teenage girls in costume to help with crowd control, Madame Zelda has brushed off her prediction skills, and Witchy-Poo is ready to cackle her way into the hearts of trick-or-treaters everywhere. If you haven't seen the slideshow I made of last year's monster bash yet, then click here for a real treat.

Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. My girlfriend Maria and I would go trick-or-treating for hours by ourselves - nobody worried about anything bad happening. (Although my mother would never let me eat any candied apples for fear of razor blades. Like I wanted to eat an apple when I had all the candy! Duh.) :)

Do you have a favorite Halloween memory you'd like to share? I'd love to hear it.

Happy Halloween, everybody!