Happy Mother's Day and Other News

Hope all the moms out there are having a wonderful day. My day began with breakfast in bed made by my husband and son, along with my daughter's special contribution: chocolate covered strawberries, which should, in my humble opinion, be their own food group. They are one of my all-time FAVORITE things. I also received some candy and flowers and a HUGE card declaring me the best mom ever. Since my kids are 16 and 13 I suppose I should count myself as fortunate that they still think so with all my many rules and restrictions that make their lives so miserable. Hey, that's my job, right?

As a special offering to all the moms, I'm offering my book GEORGIA ON MY MIND as a Kindle freebie this weekend. If you've already read GEORGIA, then you know that the loss of my own mother, now almost eight years ago, featured prominently in this story. Much of what Georgie Quinn goes through after losing her mother mirrored my experiences. There's also a cast of irascible senior citizens in this book that are fashioned after my dad and his hilarious group of friends. And finally, you get three romances for the price of one when the Caldwell brothers meet Georgie and her two roommates. Get it for free here until Tuesday. If you have a Nook, Kobo or iPad and want to read Georgia, you can download the free Kindle app to any device with an internet connection and get the free copy.

In other news, I was excited to hear this week that Harlequin will be bringing out the Fatal Series in mass market paperback under the HQN imprint starting in the fall of 2013 and going forward from there. I'm looking forward to gaining some new readers of the series through this offering, and I signed on for two more books in the series, Fatal Attack and Fatal Mistake. I'm looking forward to getting back to work on Fatal Attack when I get the recovered items off my damaged hard drive--hopefully by Tuesday of this week. What an ordeal that turned out to be. Note to all who rely on computers: back up more often than I did and don't drop your laptop.

Have a great Sunday!

Everyone Loves a Hero Giveaway Winners & Other Giveaways

Congratulations to Brenda and Amy, who are the winners of the signed copies of Everyone Loves a Hero! I was really moved and appreciative of the lovely stories readers shared about their leap of faith moments. Thank you to everyone who entered the contest!

Cole and Oliva's leap of faith is one of my favorites in all my books, and I also appreciated the kind words about how much you guys enjoyed the book. It's been out a year now and I'm still hearing from readers who enjoyed it.

If you haven't yet joined the Everyone Loves a Hero Reader Group, come on over!

I'm giving away copies of Falling for Love and Fatal Flaw on Elise Rome's blog during her March Madness promotion this week. Come on by to comment to be entered to win one of the books.

I'm really excited about the upcoming visit from my friend Bella Andre, who is coming over to the Marie Force Book Talk group on Monday, March 5, to talk about her Sullivan series as well as her other books. She's bringing a bunch of giveaway copies of the Sullivans, so if you haven't yet joined the fun at MFBT, get on over there so you can chat with Bella on Monday!

Finally, I'm excited to report that I hit my 25,000-word-by-the-end-of-the-week goal in Fatal Attack today. I'm really enjoying where this book is going. The mystery is very different than anything I've ever done before, and I'm digging it! Sam is at her all-time crankiest, which gives me the giggles when I'm writing. She's so bad and sooo fun to write!

Dear Diary: Leap Day Giveaways and Other Musings

Happy Leap Day everyone! Since this day only comes around every four years, we have to take the time to celebrate in high style. My most faithful readers know there's a connection to Leap Day in Everyone Loves a Hero. In honor of Cole and Olivia and the leap they take together, I'll be giving away TWO copies of Everyone Loves a Hero here on the blog. To be entered to win, tell me about a time you took a leap of faith and how it changed your life. YOU MUST include your email address to be entered into the drawing and ONLY entries posted to the comments section of this post will be considered. The contest ends at 5 p.m. tomorrow, March 1, and winners will be posted tomorrow night. Leap away!

I'm also offering a giveaway copy of Maid for Love today on my friend Pamela Clare's blog where we are celebrating Pamela's "12th" birthday. She is a very accomplished 12-year-old, and if you haven't read her I-Team books, you are sooooo missing out. I'm very much looking forward to diving into her historicals once I finish the final book that I'm judging for the RITAs (the romance writing equivalent of the Oscar). I got a great batch of books this year that really held my attention, but I'm looking forward to digging back into my TBR pile! At Pamela's blog, some of my other writing friends are offering giveaways as well: Julie James, Bella Andre, Joyce Lamb and Joan Swan. Come comment about your favorite birthday memory to be entered into the drawings for seven different books!

In other news, this week I set a goal of getting the new Fatal Book, Fatal Attack, to 25,000 words by Friday. This morning, I hit 20,000, so it's looking good for making the goal for the week. Perhaps I will even exceed it. I made it back to the gym this morning after being off with the kids last week. I always love being there, but I hate getting myself there. It's a mental hurdle I'm working to get past as I keep the gym front and center on the schedule. Another interesting thing I noticed yesterday is that when I was working two full-time jobs, I took a heartburn pill almost every day. I can't remember the last time I took one. Interesting what stress does to a body!

My other big news is that my daughter is now a licensed driver. I've had many people tell me you haven't really experienced parenthood at its finest until you kids start driving. I'm happy for her that she passed the first time around and that she will have some increased independence, but I am also worried, too. People drive like maniacs around here. I'm not worried about her. I'm worried about them. So, to all the crazy drivers who live near me, keep away from my kid please. She's a very good kid, and I want her to be safe always. Sigh...

Today I'll be Skyping into my reader friend Karen Lawson's book club to talk about Marking Time. We did Treading Water last month and had a great time, so today we're doing book 2. I'm always happy to join the book club chats and with Skype I can be there "in person." If you'd like me to join your book club meeting, send me an email to get on the schedule.

Lastly, who did you like among the guys last night on American Idol? I liked Phillip Phillips the best. How about you? And what did you think of the Parenthood finale? I love that show SO much it's not even funny! One thing I have to say is WHOA, DREW! Who knew you had that in you, my shy friend? Did you watch? What did you think? Can't believe we have to wait six months for more of the Bravermans.

Dear Diary: Back to Work, NYC, WIPs and The Oscars

Ahhhh, what's that I hear? The sound of silence? Well, not entirely... The kids are back to school after 10 days off, but Brandy and Louie are having their first morning wrestle and the guy is here to take the doors off the rooms in my house. The doors are the final frontier in the recent home renovation project. For nearly 10 years, we've lived in a house that has all different doors on all different rooms. I scratch my head wondering when that was ever in style. Umm, never? We've been saying we were going to do this job for ages and now, it's ON. So one final week (I hope) of disruption in the house before things really get back to normal.

Over the vacation, I took my kids to NYC for a few days. (Photo to the left was taken at the top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The building under construction to the right of the Empire State Building is the new World Trade Center tower.) We got very lucky with balmy weather that made walking around the city much more pleasant than it would normally be this time of year. The kids ice skated at Rockefeller Plaza, we went to the top of 30 Rock and my daughter got to see Jimmy Fallon practice his monologue. Funny story about the monologue... They were giving away tickets in the NBC Experience store, so we grabbed three and of course never looked at them. When Emily heard she was going to meet Jimmy Fallon (one of her favorite comedians), she had to go back to the hotel to shower and change. I thought that was really cute. She was like a giddy little kid, and I haven't seen her like that in a long time. We get back to NBC and we're told by a self-important security guard that Jake can't go in because he isn't 17. "Well," he mutters under his breath, "she isn't either." Okay, shut up now, please! Emily has always looked much older than she is, even though she won't be 17 until July. No one would argue if you said she was 20 or older. Jake, on the other hand, won't look 17 when he IS 17.

What was funny about the whole incident was that he was far more indignant about the crack to his age than he was about not getting to see Jimmy Fallon. So here I am in NYC with a major dilemma: do I let my kid go off by herself to see one of her favorite comedians or do we scuttle the whole thing? She was very good about it and said if Jake can't go in, I won't go either. Another mom standing in line with her two girls spoke up and offered to take Emily with them. She needed two more tickets to get her group in, so we gave her our tickets and she took custody of Emily, which was very comforting. I did tell her, "If you steal her, you deserve her, and she's VERY expensive to have around." The other mom, who was there with two teenage girls of her own, thought that was funny. I think she can relate! Of course it all worked out fine, and Emily actually exchanged words with Jimmy Fallon, which is the highlight of her life thus far. The other mom waited with her until we were reunited which was really great of her. While Emily was in the show, Jake said he would've been really bummed if she'd had to miss it because of him. There's hope for him yet, but he did tell me he "needed" a Coke to get him past the disappointment. Such an operator! One of my friends pointed out that letting Emily go off by herself in NYC was a good "dry run" for 18 months from now when I might be leaving her there for college. Sniff... I don't like to think about that!

Speaking of college, while we were in NYC, we toured NYU for Emily. I can sooooo see her there. Sigh... It's four hours by car from here, but a quick one-hour flight. She would have some amazing opportunities as an NYU student. Now we'll have to see about getting her in. I think it's great that she is seeing these schools now and realizing what she needs to do grade-wise for the rest of her junior year to make it happen. We also went to see the 911 Memorial. After living through that searing day, I wasn't all that keen on going to the memorial, but both kids really wanted to see it. In the end, I was glad I went. I think the memorial is beautiful and fitting and so incredibly sad. Have you seen the memorial? If so, what did you think? If not, would you want to?

Not much work got done while we were in NY, but over the weekend I wrote the first two chapters of McCarthy book 6, Season for Love. I needed to get the first chapter done so I can include it in the back of Hoping for Love. Season will feature Owen and Laura with snippets of stories for all the earlier couples as winter sets in on Gansett. It will show our island friends over the holidays with a wedding thrown in and possibly an engagement. Book 5, Hoping for Love, is off to the proofreader for a last look before it goes live in March. This week, I'll also be showing off the cover of Hoping for Love at the McCarthys of Gansett Island Reader Group on Facebook, so make sure you join the group for the first look at Evan and Grace's cover and to be the first to hear the release date.

This week, I'm back to work on Fatal Attack. Time to kick that book into high gear! I've also been chipping away at Duchess by Deception in my "spare" time. If you're keeping score at home, yes, that's three books currently in various stages in three different genres: contemporary, romantic suspense and historical. And you wonder why I worry about my head exploding?!

Finally, what did you think of the Oscars? I thought the show itself was a major SNORE. I hate all the stupid "bits" and the acrobats and other junk that sucks up time I'd rather see given to the winners so they aren't played off five seconds after they get on stage. Billy Crystal was just okay, in my opinion. Robert Downey Jr. was hilarious and should be next year's host. I was disappointed that my fellow Rhode Island native Viola Davis didn't win, but I love Meryl Streep, and as always, she was classy and perfect. (LOVED Collin Firth's Mama Mia comments. I don't know about you, but I could listen to him read the phone book. He's adorable!) I loved Meryl's dress, too. Normally, she's somewhat of a fashion disaster, but last night, she was spot on. Angelina, please keep your leg in your dress. We really don't care. I swear. Brad, love that you're sporting "The Rachel" these days. Nice tip of the hat to Jenn. The only nominated movie I saw was "The Descendants." I had soooo many issues with that movie and the plot (they're going to hunt down the mother's lover while she is DYING in the hospital? Really?), but I had no issue with two hours of George Clooney on the screen. Dreamy. I was thrilled to see Christopher Plummer win as well as Octavia Spencer. I'm looking forward to seeing "The Help." What did you think of the Oscars? Have you seen any of the movies? Which one is must-see?

Happy Monday!

Dear Diary: School Vacation Week

The kids are home this week, which clearly changes the writing dynamic. One of them sleeps until noon and the other is up earlier, but he's good about entertaining himself when I'm working. So I'm trying to get some writing done in the AM and then hang with them (as much as teenagers wish to "hang" with their mother) in the afternoons. Tomorrow, we're heading to NYC for a few days for college tours at NYU and Fordham for my daughter, the artsy-theater-musical type. While we're there, we also plan to tour the 911 memorial, which both my kids wanted to do, and go skating at Rockefeller Center, which my hockey-playing boy wants to do. He also asked if we could score some tickets to a Knicks game so he could see their new sensation Jeremy Lin play. I laughed. Hard. As if! I'd like to see Wicked while we're there if we can fit that in. We'll see! My husband HATES NYC, so it's a great time to go with just the kids since he is working this week.

Some of you have asked how our new dog Louie (also known as Screwy Louie when he is being crazy and just LOUIS when he's misbehaving) is fitting in. Well, it's like he's always been here. He fits in perfectly with all of us. He and Brandy get along great. They love to wrestle and play and then they collapse for a nap before starting the whole process over again. We have an invisible fence in our yard, which is the only kind of fence we could possibly have since our yard is really weird. The invisible fence gives them the full run of the place, and Louie is now fully trained on the fence and knows his limits. It makes life a lot easier when we can send them out to play in the yard when they are getting too wild inside. Brandy really seems to like him, but even she has her limits. On the first night we let him sleep outside the crate, it was like she told him, "I don't mind having you around here, but don't get any ideas about sleeping with us." That first night, he got in bed with Jake and has slept there every night since. Jake loves having Louie snuggled up to him. He says, "Let's go to bed, Louie," and off they go. The only bad part is when Louie uses Jake's belly as a springboard when he bounds out of bed in the morning. Ooof! He's a cute little dude, and already love him.

Next on my mind is the season finale of Downton Abbey. WHOA! Did you see it? That last five minutes made my foolish heart go pitter patter. My friend and fellow Downton addict, Julie, sent me this link to a blog that deconstructs each episode. It's pretty comical reading and the author is, like me, a HUGE fan of Maggie Smith's dowager countess, who in my humble opinion, steals every scene she is in. I agree with the blog's critique of some of the second season's bigger failings, but even with the glitches (Robert's "thing" with the maid? UGH!), it's still riveting TV. I've even got Dan watching it, and he agrees that Maggie Smith is hysterical.

On the writing front, I made great progress on Duchess by Deception this weekend. It's coming right along. I'll be spending more time on that today along with Fatal Attack, which is also continuing along. There won't be much writing getting done while we're in NYC, so I'll hit it hard again next weekend.

I'll be back on Saturday to report in on our trip. Wish me well! Three days in NYC with two teenagers! Pray for my sanity! :-)

Dear Diary: The Beautiful Thing About Ebooks

There are so many beautiful things about e-books. They are easily accessible, user friendly and never go out of print. They are available on a moment's notice and fit neatly on groovy devices we take with us everywhere we go. From the author's point of view, they are also easily updated, which is what I spent this morning doing. I updated the entire McCarthy series and created new files for the various retailers. I redid the Author's Note in each book to account for the fact that there will soon be five books in the series, and I updated the About the Author pages, as well as the reviews and list of available books to include new ones. It was a good "housekeeping" job that needed to be done. I'll also be refreshing the book descriptions on the various retail sites to include reviews, testimonials and a listing of the other books in the series. While all of this takes time and effort, I'm thrilled to be able to do it myself.

Speaking of housekeeping, I've just done a slight overhaul to my website. I've added a "Connect" button that lists all the ways readers can connect with me, from this blog to the reader groups on Facebook to Twitter and beyond. I've added a "Reviews" link to keep all my reviews in one central place, and we added a tab for the Treading Water Trilogy. The website is always a work in progress, so if there's anything you'd like to see there that I've missed, just let me know. On the back end, my lovely web guy Dan helped me to set up a sidebar feature that will allow me to make a single update to the sidebar that will then show up on every page. That might seem like a small thing, but as the site grows, it's a huge time saver to be able to hit every page with one update. It's the little things that make my life easier!

On the writing front, I hit 12,000 words on Fatal Attack yesterday. It was one of those perfect days when everything is firing on all cylinders. That book is off to a great start and the hardest part—the set up—is done now. I got to write a really fun Sam and Nick at home scene last night that I loved. I so enjoying hanging out with them. At this point they feel like old friends, and I know them so well that writing them gets easier all the time. The hardest part of the Fatal books is always the police investigation portion. I like where that part of Fatal Attack is heading. While at the gym yesterday (let there be no wasted time), I figured out the nuts and bolts of what will be the book after Attack, Fatal Mistake. That one is going to have a sports theme to it, and I'm looking forward to writing that. I'm also plugging away on my historical, Duchess by Deception, and thinking about the opening chapter of Season for Love, book 6 in the McCarthys of Gansett Island Series. I'll need to do that opening chapter soon so I can include it in the back of book 5, Hoping for Love, when that's released in March. So, there's a lot going on inside my poor tired brain, but it's all good and I'm having so much fun!

The new dog Louie seems to be settling in well. It's amazing how fast he and Brandy have worked out things like whose bowl is whose, who is allowed on what portion of the sofa, who I belong to (BRANDY, if you ask her, and LOUIE, if you ask him) and various other pack details. I posted a video of them playing tug of war with one of their toys last night. They sound like cute little one-horsepower motors! Since we're still training Louie on the invisible fence, we're not letting him run free in the yard yet, so we have to walk him out to his rope on the tree (hopefully, for just another day or two). One thing I have noticed about him is for a skinny little 39-pound dude, he is FREAKISHLY strong. Yesterday, I was bringing him in, lost my balance and ended up face down on the cement porch with skinned knees and a bruised elbow. I imagine it was quite a sight for any passing motorists! I managed to hang on to him as I recovered my senses, but it was a lesson to make sure I'm being careful where he's concerned. He's small but scrappy! I also discovered today, much to Dan's dismay, that Louie is a digger. Brandy went through a fierce digging phase that has only recently ended. Poor Dan...he fights a losing battle with the grass and the digging dogs are not good for growing grass. I see a lecture from Dad in poor Louie's future... I wonder if he will listen?

Song I can't get out of my head: still Set Fire to the Rain by Adele. Day five.... My family is going to shoot me any minute.

Who I love on American Idol: Phillip Phillips. My daughter predicts he will win. What do you say?

Looking forward to: More Idol as well as Grey's and Private Practice tonight

Hope you're having a great day!
xoxo
Marie