Thirteen Places I’d Love To Visit

1. Alaska
First on my list. I get a taste of it at Alaska Steve’s blog, A Sense Of Place.
2. Charlotte Speedway
During race week. I’d love to see a NASCAR race there.
3. Mt. Rushmore
I’ve always wanted to experience the Black Hills up close and personal.
4. The Smithsonian
I want to see the Hope Diamond especially. I’ve always been fascinated by it. There’s a million things there I want to see.
5. Broadway
I’d love to see a musical some day.
6. Stonehenge
Another fascination of mine. I blame Leonard Nimoy and “In Search Of…”
7. Scotland
I want to discover my ancestors and the Redneck’s ancestors.
8. Canada
I don’t know much about Canada, but I’d love to visit there and learn.
9. Niagra Falls
LOVE big waterfalls.
10. The Lincoln Memorial
At night.
11. Arlington Cemetery
To pay my respects as an American.
12. The Vietnam War Memorial
To pay my respects.
13. Daytona Speedway
During Speed Week. I want to see the Truck race, the Busch race and the Cup race.

Random Whiskey Wednesday

It’s been a busy, busy week.
Christmas Cookie Weekend turned into Christmas cookie week. I’ll take pictures.

Taking care of someone else’s boy regularly is much harder than I thought. I mean, when I go head to head with my kids, it’s a battle wills I have a chance to win. With someone else’s, no such luck. I might win the battle and lose the war. *sigh*. I hate fighting over stupid stuff with a kid. But it was twenty degrees outside and a t-shirt isn’t going to work. A coat. Wear a damn coat. And you’re not leaving the house until you do. Yep. That went well.

Rewriting is not fun at all. I’m going to finish and I can see the end, but man, does it suck.

Do you need a little relaxation for the holidays? I suggest Jodi Redford’s “TAKING LIBERTY” which is one of the best Sci Fi Romance books I’ve read in a while. The action was fantastic and the world building was stellar. I fell in love with her hero along with the heroine and the tension between those two was electric. I especially loved her aliens and Jodi is a brilliant writer. I’m keeping an eye out for more of her sci fi. She and I exchanged a few emails and I was SHOCKED to discover it was her first sci fi. Yes, it’s that good. Good SFR is tough to find, so I hope we see a lot more from her soon.
I also suggest “The Dickens With Love” by Josh Lanyon (if you like m/m romance). The research Josh did for this book really makes this story shine. I love the characters and the plot is terrific. Josh always writes hot sex scenes and these are smokin’, but he ALSO adds the element of holiday angst and emotion that gives the story depth.

This hasn’t been an easy year. I’ve never been so eager to see a year come to a close. As 2009 winds down, I realize it’s been my most challenging, least productive year since I started writing in 2005. My writing has improved and I’ve kept my nose to the grindstone, but it HAS been a grind. My resolution for next year is to love writing again. I’ve had glimpses this year, but not many.

Good news!!! For those of you who follow my blog, you know that the Redneck works out of town five days a week. He’s been on the road for over four years and it has been a monotonous ride. He found out that he’ll be working close to home–only thirty minutes away–starting next March. Nothing is ever set in stone, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll get to have him home for a while. I know that doesn’t sound like I’m jumping up and down, but I’m always cautiously optimistic. When he’s really home, I swear you’ll hear my “YEE HAW” all the way to Canada.

Oh, and I’ve been following along with Alaska Steve on his vacation. He has some absolutely stunning pictures of the Capitol and New York. Don’t miss them.His D.C. pics were gorgeous, but I love the take he had on Seattle.

Got any ideas for a Thursday Thirteen? LOL.

The Winners!!!

Alaska Steve won the $25 Barnes and Noble Gift Certificate!
Jodi Henley won a $20 Gift Certificate from Fictionwise.
Very Bad Cat won a choice of any of my titles.
Melissa Blue and Alice Audrey won $10 Gift certificates from Fictionwise.
And Sandi won all three of the Command series books. (Let the corruption continue!).

Congratulations to all of you and thank you to everyone who made the blogorama fun!!!

Whiskey Wednesday Contest Results!!!

Who’s the Winner?

Okay, results from last weeks contest are in. I was highly amused to find that most of you thought I loved shoes more than whiskey. But alas, it was not so.
How many pairs of shoes did I bring to conference? Five. And three of them made my feet THROB. I wish I’d had a pair of Xtra Tuffs. I did have the Fuck Me Pumps which were on my feet for all of two minutes. Which is about how long they stay on at home. Is that TMI? Ooops!
Susan Hatler won that question. But she WAY underestimated my capacity for whiskey. LOL. However, those who guessed my drinking capacity (Andi was closest) were confused about my shoe wearing. For those of you who are interested, I had twenty-six drinks all together (You were close, Julia)
All of you were correct. I did NOT puke on anyone’s shoes (including Miriam Kriss’).
Soooo since no one really “won”, I’ve decided to do it randomly. LOL. I know. All that research you guys did for nothing.

The winner is ANDI!!!!! Congrats hon! I’ll be emailing you.

BUT, Susan, if you’re interested, I’ll send you an ebook pdf version of “Edge Of The Storm”.

I want to thank you all for participating (especially Steve
). Don’t despair. I’ll be doing another contest in September just for the hell of it.