Year in Review

As 2008 comes to a close, I'm watching snow and wind derail my plans for tonight. Boo hoo!

This has been a difficult year for our country. The publishing business, in no risk of receiving one of those lovely federal bailouts, has suffered just like many other industries. I've said before that the only thing we as writers can do in this economy is to keep writing and hope for better days ahead. I still firmly believe that the stories we're working on right now will contribute to the industry's resurgence in 2009 and 2010. Three weeks from now we'll inaugurate a new president, and I can't wait to be dazzled by him. But before we step into the New Year, here are a few of my writing highlights from 2008:

--Seeing a book cover with MY name on it for the first time.
--Getting PAID for my work. Twice. WOW!
--Gaining admission to RWA's Published Author Network, a major feather in a romance writer's cap.
--Returning from vacation this summer to find a box full of MY books on my front porch.
--Sharing the moment I first held Line of Scrimmage as a real live book with my husband and kids.
--Getting one excited e-mail after another from friends and family, letting me know their pre-ordered copies of Line of Scrimmage had shipped from Amazon.com.
--Receiving many wonderful reviews for Line of Scrimmage, including this one from Booklist, "With its humor and endearing characters, Force’s charming novel will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, reaching far beyond sports fans." (To read all the lovely reviews, click on the "reviews" link below this post.)
--Signing with agent Kevan Lyon, who has been TERRIFIC to work with and lots of fun to hang out with, too.
--Walking into Barnes & Noble and knowing MY book was there after years of wishing just ONE of the thousands of books in the store could be mine. (Ryan and Susannah's wedding song, "You're in my Heart" by Rod Stewart, coming on the radio as the kids and I were pulling into the B&N parking lot gave me chills and made me feel like my late mother was with me, sharing in the joy.)

Here I am visiting Line of Scrimmage at my local Barnes & Noble!



We're in a very good neighborhood next to Lori Foster, one of my favorite authors and a new e-mail buddy this year.



--Holding a launch party for Line of Scrimmage, where I was able to recognize and thank the friends who'd held me up on the long road to publication.



--Befriending Elena, the author liaison at my local B&N, who referred to me as her "most successful local author" in the four years she's been with the store. She says we're going to lunch when the 100th copy of LOS sells in her store. At last check, we were at 88. She held a fabulous book signing for me in September, made me feel like a star on more than one occasion, and became a valued new friend and advocate.
--Receiving real, live fan mail! One of my favorite comments about Line of Scrimmage came in August from J. Kaye Oldner on her blog: "It was a book that made me laugh as well as cry. The three-dimensional characters were so vivid. I’d have no trouble plucking each one out of a crowd. LINE OF SCRIMMAGE is Marie Force’s first novel. Her next is scheduled to be out in the spring of 2009 and it’s titled SAME TIME SUNDAY. You can bet I’ll be in line to get my copy, because hands down, this is the best romance I’ve read this year."
--Attending the National Romance Writers of America annual conference for the first time in my favorite city of San Francisco where I met so many of my online friends, rode in a limo to the publisher's dinner, and met my editor, publisher, agent and publicist in person.

Here is the Sourcebooks Casablanca gang at the publisher's dinner in San Francisco:


Back row (l-r) Michele Ann Young, Linda Wisdom, Dominique Raccah, Gail, Beth, Sharon Lathan, and our lovely publicist Danielle Jackson. Front row (l-r) Deb Werksman, Robin Kaye, Marie Force, Malena Lott, Judi Fennell and "Aunty Cindy" Loucinda McGary.

--Selling my second book, formerly known as Same Time Sunday, during the RWA conference. (New title pending, hopefully in early January.) I'm very excited about this book and can't wait to hear what readers think of it. I take a few risks in this one by showing my hero and heroine with other people before they get together. (And when I say with other people, I mean WITH other people... Tee hee, yes, there's sex in chapter 2!)
--Being featured twice in local newspapers.
--Attending the New Jersey Romance Writer's Conference where I participated in a multi-author book signing for the first time and connected with readers, one of whom gave ME a gift to thank me for writing a book she loved so much. That was pretty cool!
--Signing books at Annie's Book Stop in Sharon, MA. Thank you Merry Cutler, a great friend of romance writers! Hope we can do it again when the second book comes out.



--Making an astounding array of new friends, both writers and readers, who have been so supportive and invested in my writing career. My fellow Sourcebooks Casablanca authors have been such a joy to me, keeping me sane, focused and enormously entertained. You ladies are my favorite writing friends, bar none. Our Casablanca Authors blog has been a lot of fun this year, and I look forward to the start of another terrific year together.
--Participating in a group signing in Baltimore's Inner Harbor B&N with my good friends Robin Kaye and Kendra Leigh Castle, with whom I also share agent.



--Starting this blog and committing to it as an almost-daily endeavor beginning in November. Nearly 3,000 readers have stopped by, which is a major accomplishment in and of itself.

Yes, there have been downs to go with the ups, but as I look over the list above, I realize that the highs have certainly outpaced the lows. I will look back at 2008, my debut year, as a year to be remembered and savored as I go forward, hopefully for years to come, with new books, new adventures, and more new friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who loved Ryan and Susannah, who wrote glowing reviews, who took the time to send me fan mail to tell me they loved the book, and who made my year by getting what I was trying to convey about a marriage in crisis. I know this may sound hokey, but I also want to thank Ryan Sanderson for being one hell of a fun character. He is the heart and soul of Line of Scrimmage, and readers have responded with passionate love for him. Publishers Weekly said of him, "Ryan . . . is a good guy desperate to fix past mistakes, a terrific change of pace from the typical reluctant hero."

By far, the best part of this debut year has been sharing the excitement with the people I love and seeing my Dad enjoying every minute of it after years of urging me to get serious about my writing. At every party, cookout, gathering, and event I get grilled on how it all works: how you write a book, how you sell a book, how it feels to be published, etc. As my fellow writers will attest, we love to talk about what is for most of us a lonely, solitary pursuit. My secret life came busting out of the closet this year. I'm a writer, and now everyone knows it.

Wishing you good health, good friends, and good books in 2009!

Rumor Has It...

...That the Tom Brady engagement story is FALSE. His father was quoted in People magazine saying the airplane, the roses... never happened. Does that mean I can use the Tom Brady False Engagement Scenario in a romance novel someday? The team spokesman says Tom likes to keep his private life private. Damn him. I heard a snippet of sports talk in the time it took me to relocate a car in my driveway the other day in which Tom was being vilified for getting engaged during the season that he sat out after blowing his knee in the first quarter of the first game. I have to admit, even as Tom's biggest fan, I wondered why he didn't wait a week or two to propose until the team was either done for the year or in the playoffs. Guess what? I feared he would be vilified in the Boston market for having ANY kind of life outside of football during the season. Surprise, surprise, he was ripped up, and now we hear the story might not even be true! This is a tough place to be a professional athlete. Fish bowl anyone? I saw a comment online after the engagement story broke where someone said that Giselle (hello, the SUPERMODEL) looks old enough to be Tom's mother! LOL! Who are these people?

How sad it is that I can't WAIT for the next season of The Bachelor to begin on Monday? The reality matchmaking show with the DISMAL success rate sucks me in every time. I keep planning to not watch it, but have yet to succeed in meeting this goal. For those who are not fans, single dad Jason was on his way to bended knee when De-ANNA stopped him in last season's Bachelorette finale. She picked oddball snowboarder Jesse over Jason, who is cute but let's face it. He's no Andy Baldwin. After watching every season except the first one, I've noticed some patterns. They spend a LOT of time at the very beginning showcasing people who end up going the distance, so it was no surprise to me that Jason went all the way to the finale after the long intro they did featuring him and his too-cute-for-words son Ty during the first Bachelorette show. Now he is the first-ever single dad Bachelor and he's said he's engaged and madly in love. For once, I find myself hoping for it to take, but I'm going into it with a healthy dose of skepticism so I don't get my heart broken again. (HA--just kidding! I love the train wreck romances that come out of this show!) If you love to make fun of The Bachelor, you MUST read Lincee's recaps on the I Hate Green Beans blog. She is freaking HILARIOUS, and she's already handicapping the likely finalists. Check back here for frequent discussions of the insanity during the season.

Our New Year's Eve plans are in peril thanks to snow... I hate New Year's Eve but I'm looking forward to seeing our friends The McMahons, who were our neighbors in Jacksonville. What's everyone else doing on amateur night?

Is Anyone Else Feeling Lazy?

How did it get to be the 28th already? Whew... Not much motivation to do, well, anything around here. It's all I can do to get a load of laundry all the way to the dryer. Yesterday, I did get Jake's room totally cleaned. It was one of those cleanings that includes getting rid of too small clothes and outgrown toys. I want to hermetically seal the room so it will stay that way. I paid Emily $10 to help us, which was money well spent. Without her, I'd still be in there. Ask her to use her powers of organization in her own room? HA! As if!

Let's see, since we last chatted, we had a fun Christmas Eve at Aunt Betty and Uncle Bob's, an annual family tradition stretching 30 years. This year, Cliff Claven got to play Santa. Now that we no longer have believers in our house, he can do it without shattering any illusions. Some of the older kids at the gathering outed him, but not before he successfully read the Night Before Christmas and distributed the gifts. Doesn't he look cute in red and white fur?



As expected, the kids freaked when my dad gave them the Wii on Christmas morning. He comes over every year to open presents with us and eat pumpkin bread for breakfast. I'm so glad he does that, because the kids love having him here. This was a big electronic Christmas. I gave Cliff a home theater system, which he loves. He's already got it all installed. My refrain all day has been TURN IT DOWN. It's loud. Really loud. The kids got all kinds of stuff to go with the Wii, including Rock Band from my cousin Steve (who is Jake's godfather) and all the racquets, bats, swords, etc from my cousin Jean (Jake's godmother). They also got the tennis game from my brother George and his wife Holly. We also gave them a karaoke for their iPods, which I am secretly more excited about than they are! Cliff is freaking out about all the stuff that has to be connected to the game system center downstairs. His long weekend has been all about finding batteries, some assembly required, crawling around in the attic, and, for good measure, replacing the plumbing on the kitchen sink, which suddenly let go tonight in the midst of our Patriot's football gathering. (The Patriot's won, the Ravens and Jets lost, so the Pats are out of contention. Boo hoo! With an 11- 5 record no less! And Tom Brady got engaged, which I still can't talk about. Speaking of boo hoo! The kids reminded me that I'm married. Details.)

Holly outdid herself with Christmas dinner, which consisted of tenderloin and baked stuffed shrimp. I made my friend Cheryl's potatoes and they were a big hit. The day after Christmas, my annual "Boxer Day," in which I normally don't get dressed at all, was interrupted by a send off lunch for my dad who left for Florida at 1:30 am on the 27th and made it all the way from Rhode Island to southern North Carolina the first day. Yes, that would be 12 hours and more than 800 miles. He's a mad man. Either that or he's fleeing as fast and as far from his koo koo family as he can get. I suspect it's the latter.

Last night, Cliff and I had a fun night out with some new friends, and today we had football madness with my brother, sister-in-law and a bevy of cousins.

Anyone surprised that I'm not getting much writing done? I can't believe we're already down to one more week of vacation. I'll need a vacation to recover. Tomorrow I promised the kids a shopping trip to spend their gift cards because God knows they don't have enough stuff!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! I need a nap!

Christmas is Saved!

Up until recently, our house has been referred to as "Little House on the Prairie" by our smart-aleck friends. No play station, no Wii, no gadgets except for a karaoke machine and a couple of high-end computers. Big whoop for the kids. Last New Year's Day, Jake and I struck a deal: If he read every night (or close to it) until his October birthday, we'd get him a play station for his birthday. Well, he held up his end of the deal and so did we. He used his birthday money to take it even further: he bought a PSP, a hand-held game system. I joke that we haven't seen him since October. People tell me the obsession will wear off in time. Not seeing any sign of that thus far...

Since we've crossed the threshold into the 21st century, I decided to go all the way and get them a Wii from my dad this Christmas. Except, being totally ignorant in the way of most things electronic that aren't computers, I waited until yesterday (Dec. 22) to look for one. Last week, I was at a Game Stop in Massachusetts and saw the store was loaded with Wii boxes, except Jake was with me and I hadn't yet discussed this big idea with Cliff Claven, who's even more of a dinosaur on this subject than I am—and that's saying something. I held off on buying it last week because I figured they were fat with them and there'd be plenty left when I went out to make the buy. I've since learned that the boxes in Game Stop are only for show. They don't necessarily mean they have them in stock! I also figured the Wii has been out for a couple of years and people are probably over it by now. I said as much to the guy at Best Buy yesterday. He just smirked and said, "Yeah, not so much. Not over it."

I came home and called my dad. "We're screwed," I said, bummed mostly because I was loving the idea of him being the Christmas morning hero. My kids adore him, and the gift would be huge coming from him. He and I agreed that they were old enough at 13 and 10 to cope with an IOU especially since they're getting plenty of other loot.

Then, today, a miracle! My cousin Trisha calls about something totally unrelated and mentions that she bought a Wii today! WHERE? I cry. She tells me where she bought hers and then mentions that she's at Game Stop—the same one I visited yesterday only to be told there wasn't one in the entire state of Rhode Island. Guess what? They had ONE. BUY IT! I screamed. Laughing, she asked me to stop screaming in her ear.

The THING is in my house. She's been paid. Christmas is saved.

Note to self: next year plan ahead. Second note to self: hope the kids don't read the blog. They don't read the blog. Do they?

Merry Christmas one and all. Thanks for all your support this year, for your kind words about Line of Scrimmage, and your excitement about the still unnamed second book. I'll be back after Christmas.

Yes, it Snowed...

...but not until 1 p.m., so yes, the kids could've gone to school yesterday! I will admit that once the snow started, it went from zero to 90 in no time at all, which is probably why they cancelled school. If that had happened before the kids were home, it would've been a mess. Still, you know it's an unnecessary snow day when even the kids are grumbling about missing what is easily the most fun day of the school year (other than the last day, that is!) We got about a foot of snow.

Snow Day

We saw the sun yesterday! YAY! Today, in a massive overreaction, school was cancelled across the state of Rhode Island in anticipation of a storm that isn't expected to really arrive until 2 p.m. Umm, okay. Why the overreaction? Last December, a mid-day snow storm hit with unexpected fury, leaving scores of Providence school children stranded on buses until as late as 11 p.m. So now we overreact and cancel school even when it's not necessary. They could've gotten in a half day today rather than having an extra day tacked on in June.

Neither of my kids nor my good friend who teaches Grade 6 were pleased by this cancellation. You see, the last day before Christmas vacation is FUN. Everyone is in a festive mood, the teachers can wear jeans, no real work gets done, there are treats and snacks and movies and parties. Jake's Grade 4 breakfast was scuttled, Emily's Grade 8 dessert exchange cancelled. They were not happy! Our superintendent all but admitted in her note to parents that she did not agree with this but had basically been told to do by the RI Emergency Management Agency. In other words, if she didn't do it and something happened, she wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

The same thing happened after the devastating nightclub fire in 2003. Granted, major changes were needed, but the extreme upgrades required to fire prevention systems has shut down many a business. The cost to add sprinkler systems to existing buildings is staggering. This week we heard recommendations that one of the elementary schools in our town needs to be closed. Apparently, the cost of installing the sprinkler system in the existing school would be more than the price to build a new one. Yikes!

I'm all for safety. My kids would tell you I'm obsessed with their safety. But sometimes we can take it too far. My kids should be in school today. Instead, their 15-day vacation just became 16 days.

Christmas Traditions

Another day of gloomy weather here in RI, and we're not even getting the snow that everyone else seems to be getting! I'm sick of rain and gray skies. Enough already! Once again, it is raining slush today, which will freeze later, making a huge mess.

Despite the rain and gloom, we are pressing forward with holiday preparations. One of my favorite of our family traditions is our annual trek to a local mall where the kids pick out a Hallmark ornament to add to their collections. The plan is that when they move to their own homes (Emily most likely at 18, Jake hopefully by 40), they will take those ornaments with them. This year, Emily picked a High School Musical "locker" that sings "We're All in This Together" when the door opens. The ornament reminded her of her stint as Ms. Darbus in HSM when she was in sixth grade. Jake chose an Ironman ornament, in honor of his favorite movie of 2008. Cliff Claven takes Emily to Indiana for a weekend every May, during which Jake and I usually go to a movie of his choice. Last year, I sort of suffered through Spiderman 3. This year, I was dazzled by Ironman, so I definitely approved of his ornament choice!

The ornament outing also includes a trip to the Olive Garden and pairing up with mom and dad to finish their shopping. With some variations, my original family used to take a similar trip every holiday season—to the same mall we go to now. Those trips are the ONLY time I can ever remember being with my father in a mall. My kids will be able to say the same thing about their father! Last night, we added a new twist to the tradition. As we were leaving the mall, the kids talked us into getting their pictures taken in a photo booth. After we paid $3 for four extremely goofy pictures that I will keep forever, they informed us that the photo booth is now part of the routine.

I hope they will remember these things we did together when they are grown up with families of their own. I suspect they will because they are already holding us to them. This year, we changed church parishes and both of them have already asked me if we will be going to our former church at 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve the way we have since we moved here six years ago. Yes, I assured them. St. Mary's is part of our Christmas tradition. We won't be changing it.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?