Paranormal Bad-Boy Blurb Fest!!

It's SMOKING SATURDAY where Bad Boys of paranormal romance come out to play! You don't want to miss the sizzle and howl. And if you're lucky, you just might find an alpha male scratching at your door. Because romance authors are sharing their blurbs here today. And you never know what might catch your eye. *wink*

Any paranormal romance (erotica) author is welcome to join in the fun. How to participate... 

1. Just grab the graphic above & post the event details and graphic on your blog inviting paranormal authors to post blurbs/buy links on your blog post through midnight, January 21, 2011.
2. Don't forget to include the blurb and buy links to your romantic paranormal bad boy tale in the post. 
3. Finally, leave your blurb and buy link to your story here (NO EXCERPTS please) & the url to the event at your blog so all the participating authors can post their blurbs and buy links there as well! 

SMOKING SATURDAY ends at midnight, January 21, 2011! 

The Witch and the Wolf

Lord Jeremy North's curse is to become a werewolf during every full moon, turning into a bloodthirsty monster that kills with no remorse. When he finds a woman nearly frozen upon his doorstep, his sense of honor compels him to help her, even at the risk he might kill her himself.

Lillian Merriweather hadn't planned to get caught in a blizzard while traveling the English countryside. Nor had she planned on finding refuge in a house full of secrets. But Lillian has secrets of her own. And what she's running from is not far behind... 

Read an Excerpt or read Reviews.

The Witch and the Wolf is available at The Wild Rose Press and Amazon. 

A Tribute to My Mother

Today is my mom's birthday. It's difficult to imagine that she would have been 54 this year! How quickly the years have gone by since she's left us. And not one day goes by that I do not think of her in some way. I wonder how thrilled she'd be to know she was a grandmother to five beautiful children (3 of mine and 2 of my brother's). To think that she would visit them, laugh and play with them. My grandmother often talks about my mother, though my children are still very young to understand the difference between a grandmother and a great-grandmother.

And sometimes, I catch a glimpse of my mother in my daughter's eyes. A tilt of her head, the curve of her cheek, I'm not sure what it is yet. My daughter is still a baby, but even my uncle (my mother's brother) commented when I first brought her home from the hospital that out of all three of my children, my daughter looks most like my mother in some small way. Of course, all of my children, including myself, have her chin (that's a recognizable trait that has been passed down from my grandmother! lol).

Yes, this is me with my mother.

I miss my mother more now than I ever did. She died when I was eleven. Now I'm an adult, a mother and a wife, and I yearn to have that mother/daughter companionship. There are so many questions I have for her, regarding parenting issues, career, education, relationships, what to make for dinner, oh, the list goes on and on.

 Even still on the days when I'm sick with a cold, I think how nice it was when I was little, to have my mother make me chicken soup. Just her presence in the room always made me feel better. I've remembered this just recently when my son had an earache (something I used to get frequently as a child). He whimpered in pain, but the moment I sat next to him, holding him, his whimpers ceased and he grew calm. And I remembered how my mother's mere presence always soothed me.

I also inherited the love of reading and writing from my mother. If it wasn't for her teaching me her love of books, I doubt I would have chosen a career as an author today. She was an avid romance reader and most of my childhood I remember her always with a book in her hand. I also learned after she died that she was a writer, too. After going through her stuff, I found a box of notebooks. She had written several short stories and had contacted some businesses about writing book reviews. Though she didn't have the chance to get published, I believe she would have succeeded. I could see the talent shining through even in her rough drafts.

My father was kind enough to keep her library of books and when I moved out of my house, he gave them to me. She read hundreds, maybe thousands! I'm sad to say now that I didn't keep all of them. At that point in my life, I couldn't imagine ever reading all of them! But a few of her favorites were Danielle Steel, Rosemary Rogers, Stephen King, and Dean Koontz.

Although she has been gone for so very long, there are still many who remember her. She was a wife, mother, daughter, friend, and teacher. She was kind and patient and loving. She has touched the lives of so many of us. And now my children take a part of her into the future so she will never be forgotten. And, though I still miss her so very much, I know she is always with me.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!

Patty Zimmerman

January 11, 1958 - August 23, 1989

Writing Spaces

My years of a being a writer have taught me many things and one of those is that the best part of doing this job is that I can do it anywhere. Working as a novelist, magazine writer, short story author, script writer, fiction, non-fiction…doesn’t matter what type of writing you do, it can be done any place as long as you have the minimal requirements of pencil and paper. 

Most of us dream of having an office where we can go everyday to write our bestselling novels. And some writers are lucky to have such a writing space. Others, like myself, don’t have such luxuries. I have a three-bedroom house and I’m also the mother of 3 small children. The rooms in this house are all occupied! So, I have to carve out a space elsewhere, and since I haven’t the income to rent an outside office (that’s another nice little writer dream!) I have to get creative with the sources available to me. 

Like the sofa.

Yes, the majority of my writing takes place in the living room while sitting on the sofa. I have my laptop (a step up from pencil and paper), earphones (to block out the combined noises of my husband watching TV and the kids playing on the floor), and the ability to absorb myself in my writing world. I’ve also taken full advantage of our kitchen table and I have a desk in the dining room, though both of those areas get chilly in the winter months. I’ve also had the opportunity to hide away in my bedroom while my husband watches our children. That never seems to work out. One of them always claims the need to ‘go potty’ and inevitably wanders into my secluded space breaking my concentration.

In the summer time, I take my writing utensils (paper, pen or laptop; whatever suits me that day) to write outside. Our back porch is a lovely spot, secluded from most of the neighbors prying eyes and yet with a nice view of the backyard so I can watch my children at play.

In the past, I’ve written in numerous locations. My earliest days of writing began in my childhood bedroom, sitting by the window overlooking the mountain by the house. I’ve taken my writing with me to work. When I worked at the bookstore, I took advantage of having the back storage room entirely to myself for a full half hour. I’d quickly eat and write for the remainder of my time. Or on the days when the back room was being used, I’d eat my lunch and then sit on one of the mall benches. 

There were several years where I had no real home (the definition of ‘home’ is not always the same as ‘house’) so I spent a lot of time in my car. I’d travel to different locations, parks, secluded wooded areas, lakes, alongside rivers, or even just the mall parking lot and sit in my car to write. I’ve written in café’s and coffee shops, restaurants and pizza shops, mall’s and bookstore’s (I do miss Borders), in my friend’s and family member’s houses. I’ve taken my writing with me on vacations, too. I’ve written in the car (while someone else was driving! Geesh!), in other states and countries, in airplanes, in hotels and motels, poolside and on the beach. I’ve even written in a graveyard.   

Now that I have a real home and children, most of my writing is done at night, after the little ones are fast asleep. My sofa might not be as glamorous as an office, but as long as you have pen, paper and motivation, a writer can write anywhere!