Friday Five

1. Posted at Loose Ends on Truth.



2. Next week is the last week of freedom for the kidlets. And then my freedom begins *grins*. We've had a good summer and I'll report soon on those summertime goals. They spent the day with grandma Thursday to work on sewing projects.



3. I posted on a blog about perceptions and one thing I talked about was reading books where a secondary character was featured because the author had this character as the heroine in her newest book. I was about half way down with the second book and didn't like the character, which gave me pause about the new book. Well, the woman grew up in the second half of that other book. She redeemed herself and the bad decisions she had been making. She impressed me with how much she changed during that book, and she wasn't even the main character of that book, just a secondary one. So am definitely perceiving her in a new light and ready for her story to be told.



4. I've been a fairly vocal supporter of the local SPCA here. The CEO just lost her 16 year old dog because he was locked in a car duing 90 degree heat for four hours. I'm not going to comment on what is quickly becoming a politicized issue, except to say I still believe in the good the SPCA does. And it's a reminder to be vigilant. I had my own reminder a few months ago when Diva Kitty took a walk on the wild side. It scared me. We were lucky that nothing happend to her.

5. I'm writing again! I think I was brain dead and the idea of a sequel scares me. But I'm slowly getting back on track. Course I'm taking some Girl Scout courses and figured out I have about 4 hours of homework before the 12th of September. Eek. In addtion to a 45 minute orientation. Yikes.

May the muses have muses
Mechele

Friday Five

1. I wrote! Finally. I've been having a dry spell. It wasn't much but it felt good. Cassie, Aden, and Leo are finally talking to me and telling me what's going to happen. Yep, I'm working a sequel to Another Night, Another Dream.



2. Sometime today, my friend, Corinne Davies will see her first release from Siren Publishing, Believing is Seeing go live. Congratulations!



3. We have a pool party tonight and a chance of thunderstorms. I hope the storms hold off. It's a hot day and supposed to be a humid night. Last year we did this pool party and it was COLD.

4. My local SPCA took in over 500 kittens this spring and summer. That's just kittens. Not anything else. They wanted to save as many healthy kittens as they could, instead of them being euthanized for lack of space.

5. Anyone watch Warehouse 13? I'm rather liking the show. I really like Artie.

May the muses have kittens
Mechele

(edited to add typo from being in a hurry)

Link round up

I blogged at Authors of Erotic Romance on Sunday about Perceptions (yes, a popular topic for me, for some reason it's been on my mind) and at Trampy Vamps today on what makes vampires sexy!

My friend, Corinne Davies has a beautiful new cover. I'm so happy for her!

My friend, Mari of Marissa Alwin blogged at TRS Blue about what men are thinking.

Friend, Melissa posted a Thursday Thirteen of Randomness.

Chat tonight with Mari and Melissa at 9 PM EST at Mspot chat. We always have a good time dishing about books and writing.

As if I didn't have enough with two cats, two kids, one dog, and one hubby, I'm thinking about hermit crabs. Our very very very old fish passed away recently. I'm thinking about hermit crabs instead of a fish tank. I had thought about turtles or frogs to replace the fish but discovered a lot of turtles and frogs need lots of tank and also eat...live things. *blinks*

I've been researching hermit crabs the last couple of days so I can begin collecting all the tank stuff for them.

Some nifty links on Hermit crabs.

Hermit-crabs.com

Crabby talk

I'm hopefully going to be my youngest's assistant troop leader in the fall. I love Girl Scouts *G*. I had to apply and get references. I'm going to take CPR and first aid in September.

The three pets are getting microchipped at our local SPCA. I can't say it enough, support your local shelters. The SPCA does so much for and with my community. They impress me at every turn.

May the muses have crabs...hermit crabs

Mechele

Friday Five

1. I'm still over the moon about Another Night, Another Dream. Yes it gets lonely and I have to vsit it...

2. I'm one book away from meeting my reading goal for the summer, which was 10 books. The oldest has met hers (and we didn't even count the Harry Potter series which she read in anticipation of the movie as she'd already read the books once). The youngest is close. I hope within the next week.

3. The youngest has developed a real love of audio books. We've been listening to the first and second Harry Potter. Jim Dale does such a good job reading them. I keep wondering though...do audio books count for reading goals? She really does enjoy listening to books. And she's remembering parts of them.

4. The cats went to the vet Thursday. The older cat, Diva Kitty really hates it. She meows the whole entire time. Both got a good report and we don't have to go back for them for an entire year. Spaz cat has grown to a whopping 13 pounds. I told the vet I've cut him way back now that I'm sure he's no longer growing. He's a really long, very tall tabby.

5. The Big Bad Wolf at Bush Gardens is closing :(. It's my hubby's favorite coaster and both of the girls rode that one as their first coaster. I'm rather sad. We hope to ride it two more times before it closes on Sep 4th (I think).

May the muses have coasters
Mechele

Another NIght, Another Dream is out! *does a little dance*

The scream just after midnight was me. Sorry. Couldn’t help it. LOL but was too tired to send out anything about it.

Another Night, Another Dream has released. I’m so excited. This one’s a little different.



blurb:

Cassie thought she'd convinced her friends not to throw her some lame birthday party, but when her 25th rolls around, boy was she wrong. Not only is there a birthday party, but there's a stripper, and a bitchy little tramp who insults Cassie's plus-sized curves at her own party. Pissed off beyond belief, Cassie storms out, only to get trapped in a stairwell.

The stripper, Aden, and the bodyguard, Leo, follow her out to check on her, but just their luck, they get trapped in with her. Aden can't believe his luck at being stuck with the gorgeous birthday girl and the Hotty McHotass he's been looking at all night. Hotty McHotass takes the whole thing pretty stoically, just like he does everything else—but you can't judge a book by its cover.

To distract Cassie from a claustrophic panic attack, the boys start up a game of Truth or Dare. Cassie reveals her secret fantasy to have a threesome, and one by one, hearts, souls, and bodies are laid bare. It's a fantasy come true, and so much more, but when the game's over, will it turn out to be just another night, another dream?

Excerpt:

What a day. Who cares if it's heat indexes in the 100's! I'll still be dancing.

May the muses have heat
Mechele

Coming soon and check out the pretties!

Day five of the blog tour~ (Guest blog by Amanda McIntyre)

"25 Blogs in 25 days...the TORTURED tour!"
(TORTURED, erotic medieval, Harlequin Spice, Aug.'09-Amanda McIntyre)


My thanks to Mechele for graciously having me come for a visit to her blog! Mechele , you see , aside from being a gifted author, happens to be a sister fae. So if you are making plans to attend the Romantic Times BookReviews convention next April 28-May 2,in Columbus, Ohio (not so thinly veiled plug;) be sure to come see us at the Faery Ball!

I note that unlike my blog, Mechele keeps hers rather tidy and organized. I’d hate to see her office. Okay, perhaps a touch of envy, because I’m forever and a day attempting that near impossible feat. I am a victim of post-it notes. There it is out. I do feel a little bit better. Is it so wrong to stand at an Office Depot ™ and drool over the array of post it not doo-dads? Their purpose? To help you organize your life, of course! Am I validated? So it takes me the greater part of an hour to decided between rectangle or heart shaped post it notes. So what if my manuscripts are colored coded, marking the scenes to revisit before I send it in. And never mind, how utterly HGTV my PC looks with an overlapping colored flags of quick daily reminders framing the screen? I’ve even started buying the recycled variety, doubling up addiction with being eco-friendly.

There are worse things I could do. And I probably will in a book eventually- to someone fraught of my imagination who just happens to look like the woman in the check out lane who gives me one of those looks like, “Woman are you running on all gears?” She need only take a second look at my cart overflowing with the tropical colored pads, notes, page markers, index tabs, highlighting pens and don’t forget the magnetic grocery list notepad (which unfortunately doesn’t stick to stainless steel, so I’ve since discovered) and see I’m just like her—trying to make some sense to the chaos of my life.

Ok, post it notes withstanding, lucky for me, I happen to like chaos, as long as it’s my families own special brand. Four children, (one set 16 yr old twins—yeah I saw that wince) but they are all great young people that I adored when they were babies, but surprisingly, really find fascinating and quite likeable as young adults. They and my husband keep me going here in the little Dream Factory/Post-it note heaven, with their encouragement and support. I’ve only to say those three little words, “I’m on deadline.” And they seem to settle into the mode of battle to get mom through, taking orders with ease as I shoot my hand into the air with another message from headquarters (yeah I like to dream, did I mention that?) “need more toilet paper in the bathroom, do your laundry, need to change light bulb in stove…please close the door, you guys are breathing way too loud this morning!” Delivered on my brand new “lined” 3.5x4 post-it notepad, suited I’m sure for the mother/writer.

How, you might ask is this blog is related to my new erotic medieval romance, TORTURED? I’ve no idea. But sometimes you go where the muse leads. As she did when I found an obscure bit of history that talked about how few female executioners there were in medieval times. Few, yes, but knowing the honor of executioner was a male dominated and generational role, one has to wonder what circumstances allowed a woman to even be considered. So, my Celtic heroine, Sierra was born and so too, her story of that’s been called, “a disturbingly touching tale of hope, love and survival.” I hope you’ll check it out at your local bookstore (let those business’s know that America still loves to read!) and let me know what you think.

To win a signed copy of TORTURED, I’ll choose one name from those who leave a comment here at Mechele's blog! Thanks Mechele, see you in April!



Next stop: http://www.CoffeetimeRomance.com/CoffeeThoughts -- August 10

Amanda McIntyre


http://www.amandamcintyre.net/

PS big thanks to Amanda for doing this!

Friday Five

1. I've got a pretty! And as soon as I can, I will share!



2. It's the back to school tax free weekend here in Virginia. I've been collecting supplies but the last run was today. It's hard to believe it's August already! It's hard to believe how much I spent. Yikes.



3. So when I was teenager, I read some sci-fi/fantasy. One day on a whim, I picked up a book with a unicorn on the cover. Ariel by Stephen R. Boyett. Loved it and enjoyed The Architect of Sleep by him as well. Several months ago, I wound up googling Boyett and finding out the re-release of Ariel and a sequel to Ariel were imminent. I subscribe to his newsletter and wound up getting some freebies, bookmarks and postcards in the mail. Amazing how much that thrilled me. I'm looking forward to the releases.

4. I really really need a nap. Seriously. I think I'm becoming addicted to sleep. I've been so tired lately.

5. It amazes me how people insult reviewers with "just a reader" comments. I can't imagine. Really just can't.

Mechele