Literacy Signing Tonight in Atlanta!

Not too much to post from Atlanta today--no pics, anyway, although their are some men here! Apparently there's a Microsoft conference going on here. The bar was very weird. There were clusters of familiar-looking women, and clusters of men I'd never seen before. Funny how that happens. You come to these things a few times, and you meet lots of people, but mostly, you see faces. Then when you see them again, you think you know them.

Had a long talk with the Sextet gang as well as Sharon Lathan and Sara Humphreys. We hashed over everything from publishers to what to have for dinner, but one thing that came out of it is that we may have come up with a way for me to start posting the hunks again. Basically, I'd have two blogs. This one, which doesn't have any guys, and another one for the guys with a disclaimer saying that the pics were sent to me by a friend and blog follower and that if any model/photographer wants them removed, to contact me. I probably could've done that with the old blog, but I wasn't sure that was enough--especially since it was feeding into that adult bookmark site. So there may be more changes here on the blog. As always, I'll keep you posted! 

In the meantime, I'll be signing Wildcat tonight in Atlanta!

At the "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing, hundreds of romance authors—more than 400!—meet with and sign their books for fans, with the proceeds from book sales going to literacy organizations.
Since 1990, RWA has raised more than $775,000 to fight illiteracy. The 2013 beneficiaries of the Literacy Autographing are ProLiteracy Worldwide, Literacy Action, Inc., and Literacy Volunteers of Atlanta.
This event is open to the public and there is no entry fee.

2013 "Readers for Life" Literacy Autographing
Wednesday, July 17
5:30–7:30 p.m.
Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Atrium Ballroom A–C (Atrium level)

Tasty Tuesday Beefy Jalapeno Cornbread!

Today's recipe courtesy of Tanya!

Cheryl, thought your bloggers might like this recipe. It has been in my family for years. It's one of our favorites. I don't think you have posted one like it before. We usually cook a pot of pinto beans to go with it and I put the jalapenos on top. My husband likes the flavor, but not the actual jalapeno. This way he can take them off. Hope you enjoy it. Tanya

BEEFY JALAPENO CORNBREAD

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 cup oil
1 (17 oz) can cream style corn
1 lb. ground beef
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 onion, chopped
4 to 5 jalapeno peppers, chopped

Directions:
Combine corn meal, milk, eggs, salt, soda, oil and corn in a mixing bowl; blend well and set aside. Saute beef until lightly browned; drain thoroughly and set aside.

Pour half of the cornmeal batter into a greased 13 X 9 pan and sprinkle with cheese. Crumble beef over cheese and sprinkle with onion and peppers. Pour remaining cornmeal batter over top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or longer until browned.

I'm heading to Atlanta for the RWA National Conference. Hope to see some of you there!

Preparations

I'm spending today shuttling Sam back and forth from work (Budley has the truck) and getting ready to head to Atlanta tomorrow. Deciding what to take shouldn't be too hard, since my collection of "Conference Clothes" is fairly small. I haven't done any major shopping for these events since the first one to Washington, DC in 2009. I keep wearing the same stuff over and over again, a different shirt here, different jacket there. You get the idea. Hey, it's only been five years. Styles haven't changed that much. Amazingly enough, neither has my weight.

Yesterday was "Get the yard in shape so I don't come home to a jungle" day. I had better luck missing the rain than I have all summer, and for once, everything was actually dry enough to mow. I'm hoping the deer don't eat all of my plants while I'm gone. I think they're beginning to enjoy the nasty smell of the stuff I've been spraying around the yard to keep them away. It's certainly keeping me away. It smells a bit like a festering wound.

I'm not going to have Unrivaled ready to publish on the 22nd as I had hoped. Just not enough hours in the day and too much other stuff going on between now and then. I'm going to keep working on it and put it up as soon as it's ready. I put Unbridled on sale for 99 cents yesterday, (Kindle and Nook only) and I've seen a slight upswing in sales--the operative word there being "slight." Guess I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and put it on Kindle Select for 90 days so I can put it up for free for a few days. Right now, I'm sticking with the lower price, but I may do the Kindle Select thing when Unrivaled goes up. The problem with the Select program is that I have to unpublish it everywhere else, but I figure those of you with Nooks who were planning to get Unbridled have already done so. If not, better get it while it's cheap!

We had a great IRWA meeting on Saturday. I was on a self-pub panel discussion with Aleatha Romig and Valley Brown. Aleatha is probably the one we should all be listening to. She's had great success with her books Truth and Consequences. I haven't read them--I have a feeling they're too dark for me--but she certainly has some rabid fans, and she's a helluva lot better at self-promotion than I am. She's willing to spend money to make money. I guess I'm just too cheap. Valley's book, Speeding Tickets was indie book of the day yesterday. http://indiebookoftheday.com/speeding-tickets-by-valley-brown/

As always, I'll be blogging from the conference. Who knows? Maybe I'll actually see some hunky guys and take pictures of them!

99 Cent sale of Unbridled!

Hey, gang. Just a quick post to let you know that Unbridled is now on sale from Amazon and Barnes & Noble for just 99 cents! I'd appreciate it if you'd spread the word!

http://tinyurl.com/kyv22nh  Unbridled   Nook

http://tinyurl.com/m4axrcl Unbridled   Kindle

In other news, Budley and I finally got all of the remains of the dead tulip poplar tree out of the yard on Friday. Then I went and dug up the smallest redbud seedling I could find and planted it next to the stump. Wish it luck! 

LOL! This is actually larger than life size!

TGIF!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do for fun on Fridays. About the best I can do right now is to recommend a British TV series called "Sherlock." Budley and I watched it on Netflix, but I'm guessing that isn't the only place you can find it. There are only six episodes so far (3 more are supposed to air this fall) but it's one of the best acted and best written shows I've seen in a long, long time. It's an updated version of the classic Sherlock Holmes stories, and the episodes are about an hour and a half in length. The show stars Benedict Cumberbach (Khan in the latest Star Trek movie) and Martin Freeman (he played Bilbo in "The Hobbit") who is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. Here's the link to it on the IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/

I'm also thinking of contacting some photographers to see if I can get a few hunk pics to "use with permission" here on the blog. I know you all miss the guys as much as I do, and I doubt I would post them as often--especially if I have to pay for them--but a juicy whopper now and then is good for the soul. That being said, if anyone has any inkling of how to go about doing this, please let me know.

Otherwise, the only hunk you'll be seeing here is Willy.  

Since I have no "hunks of the day" to post, I probably won't post on weekends anymore. At least, not routinely.

Thursday Thoughts

My IRWA buddies are all excited about the national conference next week, but I'm having a hard time motivating myself to even make a list of what to take with me. I'll be meeting with my agent and doing two booksignings and the Sourcebooks dinner. Other than that, my schedule is wide open, and I'm sure nobody gives a damn what I wear. My agent told me that my editor promised to have Cat Star #10 read before nationals. I haven't heard a peep from her yet, and the way things are going, I'll probably get an "I really hate this book" email right before I get on the plane to Atlanta.

Speaking of Cat Star #10, Budley just brought in the mail. I received a package of bookmarks from Sourcebooks to take with me to Atlanta. According to the bookmark, my next book, Rebel, is to be released in July 2014. This is how I find out the title and release date of my next book. On a freakin' bookmark.

Is it any wonder that I've decided to go the self-pub route? 

Wednesday Woes

First of all, I'm sorry for the lack of juicy YDs, Alicia. That is, if you've found the new blog yet. Wednesdays used to be a matter of scrolling through the hunk files. Now I actually have to write something.

I'm writing this at 4PM Monday afternoon. Basically, I'm exhausted and wondering how in the world I used to keep up with thirty acres, a house, three guys, assorted critters, and a full time job. I went out right after lunch and did the weed whacking, then mowed the yard as well as the paddock and partway around the fence. I fear that neither I, nor my trusty John Deere, will ever be quite the same again. I got off the lawn tractor feeling about a hundred years old, did a bit of maintenance (on the tractor, not me) and hit the shower. Well...maybe I did do some maintenance on me--that is, if a shower and a dose of ibuprofen count.

But before that, I took some pictures! There aren't any whopping weasels, but at least these pics don't violate anyone's copyright.

I got my new Unlikely Lovers postcards on Saturday. I thought they turned out rather well. Just wish I'd thought of the color border thing before I had the last batch printed. These are much prettier and none of the image got cropped off.

One of the other tree lilies bloomed. It's not as tall as the others, but I think it's rather pretty. I don't know the name of this one. It's different from the collection in the latest Breck's flier.

My Queen of the Prairie is also in bloom. I usually miss it because it's in the gully behind the garage. Since the guys cleaned the brush and trees out from under the power lines, I can actually see it from the barn. I planted three of them out there, and for years I thought they were dead, but here they are!

Okay. Better stop now. It's almost five o'clock and I haven't started on dinner. Happy Hump Day!

Hmm... Wishing you a Happy Hump Day doesn't have quite the same impact as it did when there was actually a hunk here to get you in the mood, does it? Sorry.