June 2004 Newsletter

SUMMER'S HERE! And so is SUMMER IN SAVANNAH--my anthology June release with Maureeen Child and Sheree Whitefeather, two very talented writers and Desire sisters of mine! It was a new experience for me to write a novella and a challenge at times, but it was great fun, too. It will hit the stands in June and I hope you all get a chance to check it out.

I'm still in such a good mood for my RITA NOMINATION FOR BEST SHORT CONTEMPORARY IN 2003 that I feel like giving away FREE COPIES OF SUMMER IN SAVANNAH, and a FREE SUMMER BASKET OF GOODIES GIVEAWAY--the winner to be picked randomly from my guest book entries, so if you haven't already signed my guest book, please stop by and say hello. I love to hear from readers (you don't have to read my books for me to enjoy hearing from you) Because I love romance novels, reading and writing them, and everything they represent to me, which is true love (yes it DOES exist, and so does love at first sight! I hear real life stories all the time!) romance novels will always be special to me. We who read them share a common bond, and each and every one of you are also special to me. Thanks so much for being a part of my world, as I am a part of yours.

Summer in Savannah Silhouette Books June 2004 ISBN 0-373-218-53-2" Click for Excerpt

On a personal note, my garden is fried from all the hot weather we've been having in California and I'll be clearing out the spring annuals to make way for the summer flowers. I have a ten foot hollyhock starting to bloom (my first ever!) and I'm so excited. I'm going to take a picture and put it on my website. My veggies are coming along nicely so far and I can't wait for that first tomato. Had some pond problems and my oldest koi died--he (she?--don't know which) died. I was very upset, but that's life in the pond. I always tell myself not to get attached, but then I do anyway. Sounds silly cause it's just a fish, but strangely, they actually have personalities. My husband bought me a pretty little white one,(he-she? is very shy still and hides a lot) so we'll see how she does.

If you would like to receive a newsletter from me and hear about my upcoming releases, and life in the writing world, please sign my guest book. I hope you all have a wonderful summer!
All the Best,
Barbara McCauley

Busy, Busy, Busy Sharon Sala http://www.romanceauthorspage.com/sharonsala

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  Hello from windy Oklahoma,

Lots has happened since my last post, but the wedding isn't one of  the incidents. <G> By no way is it off, but we can't seem to find mutual time to leave the ranch. Babies (horses) are being born weekly. We're up to something like twenty now, which brings the herd count to over eighty. That's a lot of horses to care for. Also, I'm working on a manuscript, trying to finish it before the national romance writer's conference, which is in July, in Dallas, this year.

My auntie is in the midst of a second round of chemo for her fourth bout of cancer. I have such admiration for her, and she's almost eighty. Today, I take her back to the cancer center and then she has a couple of weeks off before another treatment is administered. Don't know how it's progressing this time but an ultra sound is scheduled to be done in three weeks for assessment and we'll know more then.

My grandson, Daniel, who's two and a half years old, has been really busy chasing buckyfwies, (butterflies) and driving his little plastic, battery-powered Gator (it's a mini-four-wheel ATV sold by John Deere Tractors - He looooves tractors and anything with wheels) around their back yard. He's getting to be so big. Wears a size ten shoe and size five clothes. He's also over three and a half feet tall and won't be three until the end of September. He has a really tall daddy (six feet, five inches) which explains his size. He also has red curly hair and a handful of frinkles (freckles) across his nose, compliments of his mother, who has curly red hair. The frinkles are my contribution to the gene pool. <g>

My three granddaughters, who belong to my son and his wife, are growing up all too quickly. Oldest granddaughter, Chelsea, just turned thirteen. Holy Smokes. Her father is traumatized. He claims there are far too many hormones flying around his house and he might just have to go fishing, at which point, his youngest daughter, Leslie, volunteers to go with him. She's seven and informed me the other day that when she grew up, she was going to help dinosaurs have babies. I can't tell you how crushed she was when her two older sisters told her that there were no longer dinosaurs on earth. At that point, I stepped in, told her about the Komodo dragons and the huge sea turtles, which are basically dinosaur-time relatives, and she settled for those. My middle granddaughter, Logan, who is eight going on thirty, informed me that she is going to be a singer when she grows up and then proceeded to perform two of her favorite songs for me, accompanied by "all the right moves" that one would see on an MTV video. Shades of a heart attack. I will not elaborate further. LOL

Today they're pouring concrete for a new driveway up to the new garage, as well as some sidewalks out to the drive in front of the house. Bobby is running two different directions at once and I'm going to be gone with my Auntie. If I come home and find a big lump in the middle of the concrete driveway, it will probably be Bobby. He's a perfectionist and the workers might just add him to the mix they're trying to smooth out.

Well, I hear the cement truck coming up the drive again, so I'd better say goodbye.

Sharon Sala
aka
Dinah McCall
 

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Jill Marie Landis is Having a HEAT WAVE Jill Marie Landis http://www.jillmarielandis.com

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Dear Readers:

I had lots of fun last month, driving all over Southern California signing books and meeting and greeting fans and friends. HEAT WAVE hit the stores just as I was putting the finishing touches on HEARTBREAK HOTEL, the last book of the Twilight Cove Trilogy.

 

HEAT WAVE May 2004 Ballantine Hardcover $19.95 U.S. $27.95 Can. Read an Excerpt

Now I'm back in Hawaii where I'm kicking back for a few weeks before launching into a totally new project. Curious? You'll just have to wait and see what's up next.

In the meantime, keep reading!

By the way, if you're planning on a trip to Honolulu in July, I'd love to see you at the Borders Ward Center where I’ll be signing with Kristin Hannah on July 10th at 2 p.m. I’ll be signing HEAT WAVE, and Kristin, THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE. (I got a sneak peak and it was a fabulous read with unforgettable characters.)

And please, do keep in touch by leaving me notes on the guestbook page of my website at www.jillmarielandis.com. Your notes come to me as e-mail and are not posted publicly on my site.

Until next month, aloooooha!

Jill Marie
 

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Deborah Smith’s Headlines: Movie News, Mermaids and a Bouncing Cat! Deborah Smith http://www.deborahsmith.com

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 Hi, all –

Exciting news this month from the Disney folks. The script of SWEET HUSH is being shown to directors, and initial discussions of casting have begun! That's all I know so far. Apparently, Disney is talking to "name brand" directors. The candidates include one Oscar winner. Wow!

SWEET HUSH Warner Books January 2004 ISBN 0-446-61140-9 $5.99 U.S. Read Excerpt

In other cool news: My novel, ON BEAR MOUNTAIN, was optioned by a small, quality, independent filmmaker a couple of years ago. He recently renewed his option (aka "lease") on the project, and hopes to begin putting together the project's financing this year.

ON BEAR MOUNTAIN Warner Books January 2002 ISBN 0-446-61067-4 $6.99 US / $9.99 CAN Read Excerpt

DIARY OF A RADICAL MERMAID, the second book in my WaterLilies series and the sequel to ALICE AT HEART, is still headed for a July publishing date. This was such a fun book! BelleBooks is currently in talks with a major publisher regarding a deal to reprint the WaterLilies series in smaller paperback editions. BelleBooks only does "trade" paperbacks – meaning the larger-sized editions.

In personal news: I now have FIVE cats. Two weeks ago we added "Bouncer" to our menagerie. A friend brought him to us. Bouncer is tiny – six weeks old, at the most. He was found in a sealed cardboard box along the roadside. In my opinion, anyone who treats animals that way deserves to be locked in a cardboard box, and . . . you get my drift.

Anyhow, Bouncer is a teensy black kitten with a real knack for survival. He's already taken a flying leap off the vet's exam table, and an even worse hop down our stairwell, landing on a hard wooden step five feet below his launch point. Amazingly, after a few rounds of baby talk and a good nap, he recovered.

So now you know why he's named Bouncer . . .

Happy summer!

Until next month,
Deb

I’m back home now from a very successful book tour in support of THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET. Along the way I had the pleasure of addressing the annual meeting of the Craft Yarn Council in Phoenix. Picture me hobnobbing with the luminaries of the yarn and knitting world. I was in heaven!

THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET MIRA Books ISBN: 0-7783-2044-8 $19.95 U.S. / $24.95 CAN. Read an excerpt

I also visited several unique venues and bookstores, among them a store called Humpus Bumpus in Atlanta, GA. Isn’t that a great name? A signed copy of THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET to the person who guesses the origin of this name first! (Go to www.debbiemacomber.com and leave your “guess” on my guestbook.) The Fayette County Public Library, in Fayetteville, GA, was incredibly welcoming, with readers’ groups and a chapter of the Red Hat Society in attendance. I was in awe! I also visited several Jo-Ann Craft and Fabric stores in New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, Tampa, Vancouver and Bellingham, WA. Many of the ladies who attended were incredibly generous. They knitted or crocheted squares for a community “readers’” blanket and also gave some wonderful items, such as a hand-made teddy bear and the cutest fabric doll pin using the book cover from THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET. I was blessed to have met so many wonderful readers. And I’m grateful to the booksellers who bring my books to the attention of readers.

Now that the tour’s over, I’m taking some R & R time with Wayne in – where else – Las Vegas! (Wish us luck!)

Now that spring is winding down – at least in my neck of the woods – summer is right around the corner. I wish you memory-making times with your family and friends during these wonderful longer days that are upon us.

Your friend,
Debbie

P.S. Many of you wanted to know about the books I took with me on my tour to read. Next month I’ll share the list!

Just as I was leaving for a month-long trip to Arizona, I was asked by an editor for eHarlequin.com to write one segment of the FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE story. I didn’t see how I would have time, but then, I heard the concept and I was hooked. Holing up in our condo, I immersed myself and managed to meet the deadline. No way could I resist the story of five women of varying ages and circumstances who meet in a creative writing class and begin to share their lives with one another.

My story, titled “TOASTING NANCY,” is the fourth in the series and deals with a recently divorced heroine with two children. Desperate for a man to restore her identity, she fails to realize the extent to which she has started on an emotional downward spiral. I loved the idea of a community of friends helping her to face her problems. And once she begins to like herself again, guess what? She’s suddenly attractive to the opposite sex. There’s nothing like a little romance to add spice to life, right?

“TOASTING NANCY” began running the last Friday in April with new installments appearing every Friday into July. Go to eHarlequin.com and click “Online Reads.” The next menu page will be a listing of all of Harlequin’s online books. Click on “TOASTING NANCY.” Back chapters are available, as are the previous stories in the FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE series. Enjoy!

Laura Abbot