In Which the Intrepid Author is Almost Hit by a Tornado

Okay, not exactly.  But I worried for a while.

It was was a wild night here!  The sky turned pale green (a bit paler than this picture, but green nonetheless...this is just the best representation I could find on the web), the clouds overhead were visibly rotating, and we had lightning hit the yard.  I only caught the flash out of the corner of my eye while I was out on the porch watching the storm crank up, but the hiss and snap was unmistakable.  No tornados, incredibly, but this is the sort of thunderstorm that spawns them.  We do get the occasional small tornado here in Southern Maryland...I have no desire to see one, but I really thought I was going to.  The power in the entire county was out for probably a half hour/forty-five minutes, and one of the houses in the neighborhood was hit by lightning.  We had about six fire trucks come wailing in here, firemen crawling all over that house with flashlights...apparently, there were sparks shooting from the eaves or the gutters, and they were worried there was fire inside the walls.  Considering the tarp on the back of that house today, I'd say the lightning put a hole in the back of the house somewhere.  That or they had to open up the wall to make sure nothing was on fire.  Anyway, it was interesting (I'm willing to be the homeowners with the new hole in their wall found it less so).  I have NEVER seen a sky that color before.

Heading for the Finger Lakes tomorrow, so I'll be blogging from there all next week, provided the wi-fi works as well as advertised.  We've never taken a vacation involving a rental cottage and all the mutts before (cue ominous music...dun-dun-DUNNNNN).  Hopefully, the place will still be intact when we leave it.  My mother-in-law is bringing lots of wine, and we'll be celebrating my birthday there on Tuesday.  Yeah, I'm going to be 34.  I think I'm officially in my mid-thirties now. *sob*

Anyway, I'm going to load up my Nook with books to read today, and I have plans to park it on the deck, enjoy the lake, and read.  Okay, and I have to work, too.  Boo.  Hiss.  But there's no rest for the wicked:-)

To close my morning babbling, I do want to say thanks to all the readers who have already read and enjoyed Dark Awakening and are posting their love around the internets.  You all get a big *MWAH!* from me!  Release day is so soon, and it means a LOT that people are already enjoying the book enough to sing its praises publicly.  I love this book.  I really, really do.  And Ty, as has been stated in various places, is really more of an anti-hero in some ways...but his journey was a fascinating one to write, and I love that people seem to "get" him, that they rooted for him.  I've got linkies to the reviews on my facebook page and my twitter feed, and I believe most are linked through Goodreads as well, so if you haven't already, please come friend me here, there, and everywhere:-)

'Kay, I'm off...I have a zillion packing-related things to do today (ugh).  Hope you all have a great weekend!  Please keep your fingers crossed for me that the Newfs don't destroy anything, and I'll keep you posted on my doings up on Cayuga Lake.  And I'm curious, because that storm last night is still very much on my mind...have any of you actually SEEN a tornado?  Because even just seeing the clouds spinning freaked me the hell out.  I just wonder what it's like actually being present for a real funnel cloud.

Happy Friday!   

Hump Day Humor

Obviously I'm a bit late today...the kids' last day of school is tomorrow, and for whatever reason, the mornings this week have been more painful than usual.  And by "painful," I mean, "the kids are trying to kill me and they're not even being sneaky about it".  Ah, summer.  Here it comes, ready or not.  In lieu of something intelligent (since I already have nothing left in that department today), I give you a bouquet of cat humor.  Is it Friday yet?

The Wilford Brimley cat:

Dunecat:

Vampire kittehs:

Liu Kang...FIGHT!:

And finally:









Have a great one!

Giveaway at Borders True Romance blog!

I'm chatting today at Borders true Romance blog HERE.  Please swing by and say hello for a chance to win one of THREE signed copies of Dark Awakening!  My cup of cofffee and I will be in and out all day, and it was a really fun interview to do.  Hope to see you there!

Music Monday 6/13

Every couple I put together in books ends up having a theme song.  I don't know why, they just do.  Sometims each particular character will have one as well, but that depends.  I'm assuming this happens because I'm a music junkie, and I draw a lot of inspiration from it.  Anyway, I've already given you Gideon's song from Call of the Highland Moon...but since this is the run up to the release of Dark Awakening (and it's a book very much on my mind anyway!), I wanted to share Ty and Lily's song.  This pretty much summed up their romance to me, and I listened to it a LOT while I was writing.  Actually, I still listen to it a lot.  But then, I'm also a Muse junkie:-)  Two things, though, before I leave you with a song:

Tomorrow I'll be blogging at the Borders True Romance blog HERE.  There'll be an opportunity to win a book in the comments, and I'll be there to chat all day.  Looks like my buddy Cheryl Brooks is there today, too...she's amazing, get thee over there!

Also, I mentioned this in the comments on the last post, but in my babbling litle video, I was wrong about the timing of the Literacy for Life signing.  The doors open at 5:30, and if the last  time I was at one was any indication, the earlier you get there, the better.  It's really busy, but well worth it!  You can find the list of all the authors who will be signing HERE.  Nalini Singh's gonna be there.  I'm so hitting her up for a picture/signed book before the doors open.  Perks of being an author, heh heh heh.

Enjoy the music, have a great one!

Vlogging

So there you have it, the woman behind the curtain.  Yup, I am a living, breathing person behind the keyboard!  Also, my fat cat was in the background, you may have noticed.  He's very good at sitting still.  It's kind of his occupation!

Anyway, thought it might be a cool way to share that little teaser book I got.  I love it!  So cool!  I want to frame it or something, but it'll probably just go on that overstuffed bookcase behind me.  I'm so glad you couldn't see the surface of my messy desk:-)

Hope you all have a great weekend!  I'd like to encourage everyone to join the Forever Romance Summer Reading Book Club on facebook HERE.  At the end of every week, there will be an author chat, and there are some really great books Forever as coming out this summer.  Yay, beach reads!  Or in my case, porch reads.  I'm scheduled for the end of July, should be lots of fun.

Happy Friday!

Tattoo You

Last night I was busily ordering stuff online.  "Signed By Author" stickers for books, which I have somehow never had until now, were a must for the national conference.  I also ordered about 200 temporary tattoos of the Cait Sith mark.  I'll be giving them out in NYC, but provided they turn out ok (I see no reason why they shouldn't), I'm going to make them available on my website too, as a freebie.  So look for that sometime soon...I just want to make sure they're as cool as it looks like they'll be before I display them!  Depending on which dynasty has the focus in each group, and how well people like these, I'll add more dynasty marks as we go along.  So if you're planning to come to the big Literacy for Life signing on June 28th in NY, I'll be there with fresh new copies of Dark Awakening, bookmarks, and tats!  Yay!

I was also messing with my schedule for New York.  Holy crap, I'm going to be busy!  Way busier than a couple of years ago when I attended the one in DC.  Lunches, cocktail parties, get-togethers, publisher spotlights, signings, and a few workshops I want to take...this is very interesting, and pretty intimidating, for a small town, runs-around-in-ratty-jean-shorts kind of girl.  Still, I'm psyched.  I just hope my feet hold up.  God, I hate heels.  Cool thing is my dad, who has done business in the city for years and isn't intimidated by it at all, is coming in on Thursday to be my RITA date for Friday:-)  So I'll get out of the pressure cooker for a while on Thursday night, which I'll likely need because Thursday looks insane at this point.  We're going to a Beatles tribute show (he's the guy who raised me to have an undying love of The Beatles) and a yummy (very late) Italian dinner.  I've been pining for good Italian food!  Win or lose, I'm so glad I'll have family there to cheer me on, and since my dad is the guy I got all of my "writer stuff" from, it's good that it's him.  We share a sense of humor, so I know I'll be entertained:-)

Have a great Wednesday! 

Music Monday 6/6

Morning, everyone!  Hope you all had a good weekend.  We did...went to a neighborhood block party, enjoyed some good beer and good company, and I got my hair did (ha ha) so there's no white peeking through when I head for New York at the end of the month.  It's so annoying to be going white at this age.  Thank you, genetics.  I'm so excited for RWA this year!  I even got on the elliptical last night!  Those of you who've been around for a while know about my love/hate struggle with exercise.  I was doing great with the P90X thing until a couple kids went down with pneumonia earlier in the spring.  Haven't managed to get back on that yet, but I will.  Just...not yet.  It takes an hour and a half every night that I don't quite have right now, but the elliptical I can do...if you saw the dresses I've got lined up for the conference, you would totally understand the need for this:-)  I'm so psyched I've got my iPhone now, it'll be way easier to take pictures.

Anyway, this is Music Monday, and I do have a song for you!  This is one I played a LOT while mulling all things Dark Dynasties, and I think it's a great song for Ty and Lily.  You should know I'm a Duran Duran fan from way back...my parents had Seven and the Ragged Tiger on vinyl and I played that thing OUT.  I'm so glad to see them back in such great form.  Anyway, check out Before the Rain, and have a great one!