Off To A Slow Start

You ever had one of those days where if you were certain the dog wouldn't pee on the floor, you'd never have gotten out of bed? That's me today. I am a staggering comedy of errors.

It all began with a cold - seems everyone was sick around holiday time and I knew I'd end up with something eventually. I got a cold, which promptly turned into bronchitis as I am prone to all things respiratory. The bronchitis promptly set off my asthma so that breathing became an Olympic event. That means sleeping up right. Which means my back is now on fire. I have a chronic, inoperable back issue and the thing that irritates it worst is - wait for it - typing. Yeah, a writer with a back problem that's aggravated by typing. The thing that irritates it second worst is sleeping upright. So I finally had to take pain killers for the back in order to move and they have upset my stomach (I have an ulcer). I have to take medicine for allergies (to keep the respiratory situation from worsening) and those set off PVCs (an irregular heartbeat).

See, a staggering comedy of errors as the PVCs made me dizzy. So far this morning, I've already ran into two door frames and stubbed my foot on my desk. Then I filled the coffee maker with water and was about to turn it on when I realized there was no coffee in it. The dizziness also gives me a raging headache and as it's raining today, the Sheltie thinks he should bark every couple of minutes to warn me of the thunder.

Oh, and did I mention that I have to work today? Yeah, see my company, in their cheap wisdom, decided to cut our sick time in half, so now it only takes one major thing and it's all gone like the foot surgery I had last year - and yes, that's the foot I stubbed this morning). All I have to say is, they're getting pot luck and that's no one's fault but their own.

Despite the back/cold/breathing problems of the last two weeks, I've been working on my schedule for 2012. This year, I will release four books with Harlequin and at least one straight-to-digital, the first of a new humorous mystery series. All while still working full time. I know, I'm a glutton.

I've also decided that 2012 is the year of organization. We moved in a rush in July and things are just shoved into closets or boxes. I have got to pull everything out, judiciously donate things we don't need, and get everything else labeled and stored.

2012 is also the year of the social butterfly. Yes, I said it. I'm going to work harder staying in touch with you guys. For an introvert that hasn't paid much attention to social media, I'm sorta behind the curve. But I'll get there. I have a year, right? (BTW, when I first wrote this post, I said "behind the curse." Freudian slip, much?) :)

So now, I have homework for you: when you get a chance, please go Like my new Facebook Author Page. I will use that page to announce all coming books and for contests during the year. Here's a link:

Jana DeLeon Author Page

Last but not least, 2012 is the year I get into better shape, health-wise. I know, I said it. But the reality is, I'm not getting any younger, yet I want to work even harder. I have to be in good enough shape to do that. I'm not going to make drastic changes - just small changes along the way until I've created a way of life that is healthy and tolerable.

What about you? Any big plans for the new year? Did you accomplish everything you wanted to in 2011?

Write a post about your 2012 and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift card to bn/amazon - your choice. I am also giving away three copies of my February 2012 Intrigue release - so you can get it early, if you're selected. All posts enter you in the grand prize drawing for the Kindle or Nook.

Good luck!

Deadly - Draggin' - DeLeon

WINNER! Sandy, according to random.org, you're the winner of Amanda Brice's $25 gift card. Please email amandabrice (at) romancedivas (dot) com to claim it.

WINNERS!! Rebekah E. StephanieJS, Virginia, and catslady, according to random.org, you're the winners of Diana Layne's e-books. Please email dianalayne (at) yahoo (dot) com to claim them.

Guest blogger: Diana Layne!

I'm thrilled to welcome my Ruby Sister Diana Layne to the Killer blog today in honor of her debut release, A Pirate's Proposal, a historical romance which will be out on January 18 from the Wild Rose Press, and her mainstream suspense/thriller, The Good Daughter, a mafia tale that is coming soon on Amazon. And since her guest blog is during our Killer contest, any comments left today will be extra entries for the Kindle or Nook grand prize!



So here's Diana!

___________________________

I NEED TO GET ORGANIZED…AGAIN!

Hi, everyone, I’m so happy to be here at Killer Fiction! Since we’re all friends, I have a confession for you: Organization does not come easy to me. I have to work at it and work hard…and if I’m not diligent, I find that once again clutter is controlling my life.

Unfortunately, I came out of a book editing fog right before Christmas and noticed that clutter had once again regained control.

I had just started my baking and hadn’t even begun wrapping. The mess of paper on the floor is what I dug out of the closet. I’m sure I put it up much more neatly last year. Didn’t I?

Now, in my defense, there are anywhere from 7 to 10 people living at my house at any one time. Even though I have six children, four of them are grown, and how so many ended up back home is a puzzle to me. Currently we are at 7 ¾ as my new granddaughter will be born in March.

I homeschool my youngest two (ages 7 and 9), I write, I shop and cook for the bunch. Others have pitched in with the cleaning, and I suspect this is where I’ve lost control. No one knows what current organizing system I’m using…mainly because I don’t know what system I’m using. I think coming up with a system needs to be a family affair now, right? Except they’re all in school and working and having babies…oh, when do we have time to get organized?

Still, if I can dig out some minutes in our day, (FlyLady says organizing can be done in fifteen minutes a day, more on her in a minute),there are tons of resources available. A long time ago I started with Confessions of an Organized Housewife. Yes, we were married to the house back then. At the time I only had three children, all under age five, and I ran three home businesses: housecleaning, daycare and teaching piano, and I also played piano for our church. Writing was only a longed-for, far-off dream to escape the hectic pace of life. With the hours in my day rapidly shrinking, this book was a sanity-saver back then; although, I will admit, it took me a while to get everything she proposed implemented. For example, one of her tips was to label each piece of your puzzles (like puzzle one, label all pieces, A, A, A, puzzle two, B, B, B, etc), then cut out the pictures on the lids and store pieces and picture in a plastic zip lock bag. I believe she then hole-punched the bags and stored them in notebooks. Well, we had a LOT of puzzles (this was before Internet) and I ran out of the alphabet. So then I started on numbers.

I also realized I was a piler not a filer so I tossed them all in a big bucket instead of the notebooks. (Are you a piler or filer? Take the quiz: here.)To this day, 25 years later, I still have those puzzles organized, and we made it through the years only losing a few pieces.

Once I got a system going, my life, and my family’s life, worked much better.
It seems like my organizing only lasts for so long though, and soon, I’m looking for inspiration to do it all again. This might be because at these times I’ve entered a new phase of life and need a new system. (Like homeschooling and writing and juggling a big family.)

If you Google, you’ll find plenty of organizing sites. I love organizing sites; I could read about organizing all day….

But seriously, two I absolutely love are FlyLady and Organized Home.

When I became a Flybaby, I diligently polished my sink every night prompting my husband, at one point, to question just exactly why I was doing that. (I believe his exact words were, “Why the hell do you keep cleaning the sink?”)

“I dunno,” I replied. “FlyLady said I had to.” And the FlyLady’s point is if you wake up to a clean, shiny sink, your day starts off better. The only problem with that is with so many people living here—10 at that time—I always woke up with dirty dishes in the sink. At least at my house, I guess dishes multiply like rabbits. I will admit that discouraged me so I abandoned FlyLady—at least until I get rid of every—oops, I mean until everyone moves.

As for the Organized Home site, lots of good articles and ideas and plenty of templates to print out for your home notebook, which is a notebook to help you keep things organized. I love making these notebooks, and there are templates for every kind of notebook you can imagine. After they’re made though, I tend to stare at them and turn the pages and admire their perfection. Use them though? Nah, not really.
Right now, what works best for me is my little day planner where I scribble everything down, even writing ideas. (This apparently is a piler tendency according to that test.) I decided at this time, I’m just going to try to hang on until the grown kids, spouses, and grandkids move back out, and then I’m renting a dump truck from the city and going through the house room by room and starting over. Just another year… :)

What about you? Do you have any great tips for staying organized?

Diana Layne writes in various genres, from historical romance to mainstream suspense. Her historical romance, Pirate’s Proposal will be released on January 18, 2012 from The Wild Rose Press. And her mainstream suspense, The Good Daughter, will be live on Amazon soon.

Four lucky commenters will receive an IOU for either Pirate’s Proposal or The Good Daughter (winners’ choice). For more info on each book please visit www.dianalayne.com


Pirate's Proposal The Good Daughter

New year...new baby...new works

ATTENTION KIMA! YOU'RE THE WINNER OF LESLIE LANGTRY'S $25 GIFT CARD. SHE'll CONTACT YOU WITH DETAILS. CONGRATS!!!!!

It's a new year! I'm home on maternity leave with my newborn. And I'm spoiled.

Admittedly I had a very, shall we say, challenging first baby. They always say "sleep when your baby sleeps." Well, that wasn't possible with her. She literally would only sleep every 30 minutes, morning noon or night.

But this one is a really good sleeper. He gives us a 5-hr stretch at night, followed by a 4-hr stretch. (And this is despite being exclusively breastfed, too!) And he even sleeps well during the day, too, so I can write.

Yes, that's right...I'm writing!!! I seriously doubted I would be able to, but I am, and it feels great.

I'm finishing up POINTE OF NO RETURN, which is the sequel to CODENAME: DANCER. I'm also working on a short story set in that same world that will be published in a multi-author ebook anthology this spring.

I'm pretty excited about the short story actually, but it doesn't have a title. So leave me a comment today with a suggestion for a title, and you'll be entered to win a $25 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes & Noble (your choice).

Here's the deal...the story takes place during spring break. My heroine and her friends are dance students at a performing arts boarding school and they solve mysteries in their spare time. They've gone to Sedona, Arizona (home of the famous gorgeous red rocks) for a class trip. My heroine is still flirting with her love interest, who is an inspiring actor. He's not there because he's in LA auditioning for a part in the brand new vampire movie based on the popular Midnight series (ahem, Twilight). My heroine and her friends are obsessed with vampires, btw.

I like punny titles and I make reference to the dance theme in some way, so I'd like to stick to that motif.

Any ideas?

CONTEST! SOMEONE WHO COMMENTS TODAY WILL WIN A $25 GIFT CARD TO EITHER AMAZON OR BN - YOUR CHOICE! AND...YOU WILL BE ENTERED TO WITH A KINDLE FIRE OR NOOK COLOR AT THE END OF THE CONTEST! CHECK IT OUT AND COMMENT!

Winner!! Barbara Elness you are the winner of a $25 B&N gift card from Christie Craig's Twitter contest. Please email her at Christie(at)christie-craig(dot)com with your snail mail address.

What To Think Of 2012:

            OR:







2012 has just started and already I'm overwhelmed. I'm rushing to finish my 7th book which will also be my first self-published novel. I have a couple of scripts in the works that I may have a chance to pitch in the very near future as well as a few other novels (which I hope to publish the old fashioned way) that I need to flesh out and hand over to my new agent who is waiting not-so patiently for them. I've also started a new relationship. It feels odd to say the word, "relationship." I haven't used that word to describe any of my romantic dalliances for quite some time. I've said, "We're dating." or "We've been hanging out." But a relationship? Just saying the word gives me minor heart palpitations...although it makes me smile too.

In fact that's how I'm reacting to pretty much everything these days: I smile through my heart palpitations. Everything seems scary, exciting, new and fun. The uncertainty keeps me up at night but the opportunities  give me enough adrenaline to keep me going (well, that and a lot of caffeine). I can't wait to see how things work out and yet I'm terrified to know. Will this be the year I'm able to take my writing career to new heights or will I need to find another day job? Will this relationship work out or will I end up swearing off commitments for eternity? I realize there's probably a middle ground that I'm ignoring but this feels like it's going to be a year of extremes.

All I'm sure of is that 2012 is going to be a big one for me...I just don't know what that means.

What about you? Do you have any hopes, dreams and/or fears for the this year? Will it be a year of prosperity or the year of the Mayan apocalypse? So many possibilities!

CONTEST! SOMEONE WHO COMMENTS TODAY WILL WIN A SIGNED COPY OF VOWS, VENDETTAS & A LITTLE BLACK DRESS! AND...YOU WILL BE ENTERED TO WITH A KINDLE FIRE OR NOOK COLOR AT THE END OF THE CONTEST! CHECK IT OUT AND COMMENT!

Kyra "Fashionista Fatale" Davis

New Year's Resolutions of the Mildly Damned.

CONTEST! SOMEONE WHO COMMENTS TODAY WILL WIN A $25 GIFT CARD TO EITHER AMAZON OR BN - YOUR CHOICE! AND...YOU WILL BE ENTERED TO WITH A KINDLE FIRE OR NOOK COLOR AT THE END OF THE CONTEST! CHECK IT OUT AND COMMENT!

Some motivation required...

I bet you can guess what my New Year's Resolution is! Yeah, it's kind of obvious. Anyway, just before New Year's, Mr. Assassin and I joined a gym! I know, right?

So Tuesday, I came home from work, changed my clothes (aka squish into exercise bra and hunt for a pair of sweatsocks - I haven't seen any in 10 years) and announced to Mr. A (we always announce things in our house) that I was ready.

Mr. A couldn't hear me over his sniffling and sneezing. Apparently, he was sick. And apparently, I was going to the gym for the first time - all alone.

Of all the types of (torture) exercise out there, my favorite has always been the (torture devices) machines. I don't know why. Maybe it's because it's a system that's easy (enough for an idiot like me) to follow. I'd like to think it's because I'm interesting, but truth be told, I need total structure. And a line of machines in a logical progression works best (brainwashing) for me.

I did 30 minutes on machines (eternally grateful I didn't know anyone there - or have my kids on hand with their facebook-posting capabilities). Then I did 20 minutes on the treadmill. And believe it or not, I had no problem figuring out how each machine worked, but almost burst into tears trying to operate the treadmill. Treadmills are HARD.

I got home feeling sore and somewhat satisfied with myself. By the time bedtime came - I was mainlining ibuprofen (but I don't have a problem or anything). I threw in a couple tylenol PM as a chaser.

If I wake up in the morning and have 10% use of my limbs, I will consider this a success. I'll probably be typing my responses with my ear, but oh well.

What are your resolutions this year (what strikes terror into your heart)?

The Assassin

Kick Off the New Year!

Yesterday's winner of the $25 giftcard is Brandie!!! Brandie email me at Christie (at) christie(-)craig.com

Thank you everyone who posted and sent well wishes!!!

Contest: Today’s blog is part of Killer Fiction’s Kick Off the New Year’s contest. So make sure you leave a post.

Contest announcements: Winner of my last Blog Post: Theresa N. Theresa email me at Christie(at)christie-craig.com.

A Free, 500-Dollar Junkyard Dog:

A heartfelt tale of woe with a silver lining

It’s been a tough month at the Craig house. It’s hubby again. No, he didn’t set anything on fire this time; he got sick. Really sick. And you guys know that while I tell funny stories about him all the time, he’s my real-life hero. So when he got sick, and I’m talking driving him to the emergency room sick, I was really scared. And really pissed. Because hubby didn’t want to go to the emergency room. Can someone explain why it’s so hard for a man to admit he’s sick? Never mind that he couldn’t breathe. He insisted it was just something that would pass. As if breathing isn’t that important, right? Men!!!

Anyway, after I finally got him to the hospital, they kept him for a few days, did a bunch of tests, but couldn’t find the problem. And when the symptoms disappeared, they sent him home with no diagnosis.

Well, a week later, the symptoms returned and were even worse this time. That led to another trip to the ER and then, believe it or not, yet another one. Both times I had to fight him to go. The last time I told the hospital staff, “You’re keeping him until you know what’s wrong with him.” Hey, I wasn’t really pawning him off, I was that worried.

However, the threat of having to keep him (maybe they’ve read my blog) made them dig a little deeper. They found something. Not a good something, either. A sonogram showed his heart was enlarged. It could be blockage. Serious blockage. Or it could be a virus. They did a heart cath to find out what was happening. It was the virus, but as the doctor told us, this is the best diagnosis of the two. In more than 50% of these cases, with the right meds, the heart will repair itself within a year. There’s just one little issue. Because his heart is “virus-stricken” and weak, he has to wear what they call a . . . life vest.

They can call it what they want, but I call it a battery-operated bra. About time the man knows what I go through trying to support my girls. Anyway, this bra is equipped with sensors that monitor his heart, and it has a ready-to-fire-at-any-moment defibrillator. I tease him about it endlessly. “Be good to me, or I’ll take your battery out.” Hey…humor is how we deal with things, remember?

So…I’m sure you guys are wondering how the $500 dollar junkyard dog comes into this story, right? I’m getting there. But first comes a little more woe. Do you remember the blog post about my son’s dog, Rex? I had him neutered because he suddenly became aggressive? And that seemed to take away the aggression issue. At least we thought it did.

His aggressive behavior happened again, only worse this time. After almost a month of in-and-out hospital stays with hubby, I hadn’t been very social. My friend called. She knew I’d had a rough few weeks and also knew sometimes just sharing a cup of something warm over a conversation with a friend can help relieve the stress.

She comes over, we’re in the entryway, Rex greets her happily, tail’s wagging and all is right in the world. And then it happened. Neither of us saw it coming. For some unknown reason, Rex attacked. While she was at the emergency room getting stitches, hubby and I were at the vet saying good-bye to our pet. As difficult as it was, there really wasn’t any option. Even the vet had warned us when we had him neutered, that some dogs are just aggressive by nature. It could have been so much worse, the injury could have been life-threatening. It could have been a child.

While it was the right thing to do, it hurt like the devil. Even with his flaws and his baffling unprovoked aggression issues, he was loved and brought us lots of joy. We all cried. My friend felt terrible, my son vowed to never love another animal. And when we walked out of the vet’s office, Hubby’s eyes filled with emotion, and he made me promise him that we would never, ever get another dog. I was so concerned about this stress on his weakened heart, that at that moment, I would have promised him the world.

And I wouldn’t have gone back on that promise. At least I didn’t think I would.

The very next day, our hearts were heavy; my son and hubby went to a junkyard to look at an old car, a Falcon Ranchero, they wanted to restore. I got the call about an hour later.

“We bought the car,” Hubby said.

“Good,” I lied. I mean, they really don’t need another car to work on. Isn’t two fixer-uppers enough?

“There’s something else I want to bring home,” Hubby said.

“Not another car, baby. We don’t have enough room.”

“Not a car,” he told me. “A dog.”

“You’re joking, right.” Really, I thought he was joking.

“No,” he answered in his dead serious tone.

“Aren’t you at a junkyard?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

The absurdity of this rolled over me like a dump truck. “You want to bring home a junkyard dog?”

“Yes.”

“No,” I counter, in my blunt voice.

“She’s a sweet junkyard dog,” he said.

Junkyard dog and sweet don’t belong in the same sentence. “No,” I repeated.

“She’s young.”

“No.”

“She’s pretty.”

“No.”

“She needs a home.” I could almost hear his heart breaking over the line and when I didn’t say anything, he added, “She needs someone to save her.”

Damn, that man always knows how to pull on my heartstrings, but a junkyard dog? Then it hit me. The man’s connected to a defibrillator. I can’t break his heart.

“Do you really want this dog?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said.

“Is she housebroken?” I asked.

“I don’t think she’s ever been inside a house.”

“Does she have fleas and ticks?”

“Of course, she does. She’s a junkyard dog.”

“Are you really serious?” I asked.

“She’s free,” he said.

You do remember how cheap he is, right? I reminded him what they say about nothing being free. “She could cost as much as a couple of hundred dollars to take her to the vet.” I thought that would change his mind.

I was wrong, both about how much it would cost and about it changing his mind. So I threw in the towel. I mean, seriously, what were my choices? The man’s wearing a defibrillator.

A couple of hours later, son and hubby pulled up with this free junkyard dog. Of course, that was after they stopped at Whataburger and got three meal deals. One for the dog.

"You get to name her," hubby said. And believe me in this household that’s an honor. They never let me name an animal.

I petted her, cautiously. She accepted my hand guardedly. She’s covered in fleas and ticks. But he was right. She was sweet and soft as silk. And unlike any junkyard dog I’ve ever known, she’s completely meek and docile. I took one look at her and named her Lady.

Hubby and son bathed her and took her to the vet. An hour later, we had good news and bad news. She’s only seven to eight months old and doesn’t have mange or heartworms. That’s it for the good news. On the other hand, she was severely anemic, severely malnourished, has all sorts of worms, and had kennel cough.

And oh yeah, she’s no lady.

I don’t mean she’s a boy. I mean, she’d been playing with the boys. Yup, she was pregnant. However, the vet didn’t think she was healthy enough to carry the babies. As a matter of fact, the vet said she didn’t think she would have survived much longer. So after another few swipes of our American Express, we had ourselves a free, $500, spayed junkyard dog.

She’s adapting to her new lifestyle. At first, she ate food whole, chewing was optional—I mean what if someone decided to take it away from her? She now chews her food, enjoys her memory foam bed at night, and thinks sofas are much more comfortable that my hardwood floors. She much prefers gnawing on shoes or a pair of jeans to the sticks that she used to find outside. She finds it much more productive to steal the family pack of 96% ground round set out on the counter than to raid garbage-cans. (I still don’t know how she got on the counter, or how she ate all of it so quickly.) She decided the leftover grilled chicken on the table must have been hers. Why else would we have left it unattended for ONE minute? She’s certain that the cat food set out on the windowsill is hers, and not the kitties’. After one week, Lady has gained five pounds and hasn’t had one potty accident inside.

And the kitties? Well, she must have a little pointer dog in her, because she sees a feline, goes completely still, quietly raises and folds up one paw. Her tail goes straight and she stares at the varmint. When we don’t do anything, she then looks at us as if to say. “I found it, now you shoot it. Hey, I did my job. You do yours.” Yeah, she’s still adapting, with a few scratches on her nose, to living with the felines. Lady has gained five pounds and hasn’t had one potty accident inside.

But as she hangs out at her bra-wearing rescuer’s side, keeping him company, helping him as he hopefully makes a full recovery, I have to admit, she’s the best five-hundred dollars my hubby has ever spent. She needed us; but in truth, we needed her, too.

So what about you guys? Have you ever taken in a stray? Today, as part of the New Year’s contest, I’m giving away a $25 card to either Barnes and Noble or Amazon-the winner’s choice. So make sure you leave a comment. And remember, Jan. 15^th, we’re giving away either a Kindle or a Nook. So make sure you come back every day and leave comments. Also, check out the sidebar to see how you can get even more chances to enter.

What Do Readers Mean to an Author? EVERYTHING! by Diane Kelly

When I first began writing a decade ago, I did it for selfish reasons. My children were young then, but finally old enough to give me a few minutes to myself on occasion. Though I loved being a wife and mother (and still do), I felt as if my personal identity had been consumed by my roles as “mommy” and “wife” and “dog walker/litter box cleaner.” Writing was my escape not only into another place, but also into another identity as I lived vicariously through my heroines. At that time, becoming a published novelist seemed like a pipe dream, so giving any thought to people who might read my work would have felt presumptuous. Who was I to think someone might actually want to read the silly stories I’d written?

Over the ensuing years, I became more serious about my writing. I took creative writing classes, attended meetings and conferences hosted by writers organizations, and read virtually every book about writing and publishing that I could get my hands on. I entered dozens of writing contests, my heart breaking early on when my work scored low, but later soaring when my work began earning fairly consistent high scores. Somewhere along the line, that “pipe dream” evolved into a goal. I was bound and determined that one day my books would appear on bookstore shelves.

My debut novel came out two months ago and the time since has been an exciting whirlwind of activity - my first reviews, my first book signing, my first “guest appearance” at a book club. It’s all been so much fun! But my favorite part by far has been connecting with readers. It puts me on cloud nine when someone who has read my book tells me how much they enjoyed it. I realize now that, though I began writing for my own reasons, what will keep me writing is my readers and that wonderful feeling of connecting to other people through my stories.

What is it about a book that really makes you feel a connection to the story or the author? Is it the characters? The themes? The action? The author’s voice? A combination of these factors? Something else entirely?

Join in the conversation today and you’ll be entered not only in a drawing for a $25 Barnes & Noble e-giftcard to be given away at 9:00 pm central time tonight, but you’ll also be entered in a drawing for our grand prize of the winner’s choice of a Nook Color or Kindle Fire (or equivalent value giftcard to Barnes & Noble or Amazon). Details are on the sidebar. Be sure to email me at diane@dianekelly.com if you’ve referred a commenter or with the link to your blog, tweet, or Facebook note regarding our contest so I can make sure you receive your extra entries.

Thanks for visiting us here at Killer Fiction, and good luck in our contest!

Diane Kelly is the author of the Death & Taxes romantic mystery series. Her debut novel - Death, Taxes, and a French Manicure - is in bookstores now. Book #2 - Death, Taxes, and a Skinny No-Whip Latte - will be release on March 1st and is available for pre-order. Visit Diane and read excerpts at www.dianekelly.com