Archive for April 2015 | Monthly archive page
Happy Monday! I hope you all had a relaxing and rejuvenating Easter weekend. I picked up the milk to make myself one of those Cabury Creme Egg Egg Creams, but have yet to pull the trigger. Maybe tonight after work …
Okay, in truth, even though I’m sure it’ll taste ah-mazing, I’m the tiniest bit scared. I’ve tried escargot, frog legs and alligator, but scrambling a Cadbury Creme Egg makes me quake in my hot-pink Reebok Skyscapes. Go figure.
With JUST RIGHT coming out tomorrow, it’s going to be a busy week for me. (Not that I’ve been counting down or anything …)
If getting your name out there is half the battle, I should be winning this war. I feel as if I’ve been screaming my name from the top of the Empire State Building and scattering my book titles to the wind.
Among the places I’ve been popping up:
• Abigail Sharpe’s newest newsletter. Abs and I go way back. She’s the one who called me to tell me BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER finaled in the FCRW Beacon. The phone rang as I left the post office with receipt in hand for mailing BEAUTY to RWA HQ for the Golden Heart. (Yes, in 2010-11 you still had to mail hard copies.)
I love the idea of including friends’ releases in my newsletter, so I might just steal it. You’ve been warned.
• I’ve been invited to be a guest on author Kim Smith‘s Writer Groupie podcast. My first podcast — and I’ll be doing it via Skype, so it’ll be on YouTube, too.
Gulp. On video, I can’t hide the extra pounds I’ve picked up since taking my author photo …
Seriously, though. I’m both nervous and excited. Now that the antenna fell off my car and I can’t get it to stay on, I’ve only recently started listening to podcasts. Some radio stations still come in, but they fuzz in and out, so I’ve been listening to podcasts on the drive to work, or on longer drives out of town.
I find them informative, inspirational and entertaining. If I can manage to be one of those three, I’ll consider my podcast debut a #win.
We’re set to record the interview Friday night, around 5 p.m. my time. I’ll link to it when it’s ready.
• BREAKING ALL THE RULES is now listed on Night Owl Reviews.
It hasn’t been selected for a review yet (that I know of), so if you know anyone who reviews for Night Owl and likes romcom with a geeky bent, feel free to talk it up.
• BREAKING ALL THE RULES got its first review on Amazon — four stars!
Thanks, sjh in SLC!
• The 2015 Goodreads Author Cyber Convention starts Friday.
Click the banner to visit the fairgrounds. My “booth” is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2223533-let-the-games-begin-arlene-hittle-s-contemporary-romantic-comedy.
I’ve promised to give away a $5 Amazon gift card to a new newsletter subscriber … so get on it. (You can subscribe using the form to the right of this blog post.)
• I joined Camp NaNoWriMo. Been adding new words to an old, old story that I’m revamping as a Harlequin Blaze. I submitted the first chapter last month during the #BlazeBlitz on Twitter, and now have everything crossed in hopes that they like it and want to see more. I could handle being a Blaze Babe.
May your day be filled with reflection, rejoicing, fun and as many Cadbury Creme Eggs as you’d like!
If you’re as big a fan of Cadbury Creme Eggs as I am, you might want to try CCE Egg Cream featured on Buzzfeed. (Thanks to Avery Flynn for pointing this dream of a drink out out in a Facebook post.)
Erm … you can’t tell I’ve been spending too much time on Facebook, and not enough writing, right?
Don’t forget Lizzie Shane’s giving away a copy of DIVA IN THE DUGOUT. Today’s the last day to enter; she’s picking a winner Monday morning. Click here to enter.
Welcome to this week’s My Sexy Saturday blog hop. The theme, “A Long, Sexy Time,” is designed to spotlight love that has been around for a while:
“… It’s all about those who have loved another for a long time. This love could have started when they were kids, when they were dating or even from afar.”
That pretty much leaves my couples out. They tend to meet and experience love — or hate — at first sight, and then overcome whatever obstacles are in their path to happily ever after. Dave and Melinda from DIVA IN THE DUGOUT are the closest I have to a couple who’s known each other for a while … and that’s only if you count a one-night stand, nearly five years ago, as knowing one another.
In this scene, Dave and Mel are trying to get along for their daughter’s sake. He’s just landed in Amarillo so he can meet Mel’s parents — something she’d denied him years earlier by not telling him she was pregnant. Keeping Tara a secret was a decision she had what she thought were good reasons for, but is now starting to regret.
Enjoy!
***
Mel bounced from foot to foot in the arrivals area of the Amarillo airport Wednesday afternoon. The steady flow of travelers slowed to a trickle before Dave strolled through the gate.
Damn, he looked fine. He walked tall and proud, his shoulders impossibly broad in a burgundy suit jacket. He carried a duffel the same color as his coat—his team colors.
When, for once, her smile didn’t feel forced, Mel realized she was glad to see him. “Welcome back, Muscles.”
He studied her for a moment before dropping his bag at his feet. Then he stepped up and folded her into a hug. His arms circled her waist, pressing her tightly against his flat stomach and broad chest. Her nerve endings started to sing, especially the bits of her rubbing all that hard muscle. Mmm.
“You feel even better than you look.” The thought popped out of Mel’s mouth before she could stop it. Her cheeks burned, and she could only hope the words were too muffled by his jacket for him to hear.
No such luck. His chest shook with laughter. “If I’d expected such a friendly greeting, I’d have come back sooner.”
Mel flattened her palms against his shoulders and he let her go. What the hell had she been thinking, falling into his arms like that? Just because he was trying to build a relationship with Tara didn’t mean he wanted one with her. After what she’d done, she was probably the last person he’d consider getting romantic with.
DIVA IN THE DUGOUT, the first book in my All Is Fair in Love & Baseball series, can be found at Turquoise Morning Press, Smashwords, All Romance Ebooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and iTunes.
P.S If you liked this snippet, my friend Lizzie Shane is giving away a copy of DIVA on her Facebook page this weekend. She’ll draw a winner Monday morning. Click here to enter.
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