Romance Authors Page Newsletter September 2005

September 2005 Newsletter

Do you ever open the newspaper in the morning, read the headlines, and realize just how very lucky those of us are who don't live in Katrina's path? Oh, I complain about the price of gas just like everyone else. But what if it had been my home in that destructive path? I am so lucky - just like you are. If you want to help, here's where you can start: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/30/help.agencies/index.html.

Closer to home, I'd like to offer my sincere sympathy to Sharon Sala. I hope you'll find her words as powerful as I did.

On a happier note, Debbie's 44 CRANBERRY POINT, last year's Cedar Cove story, is one of five finalists in the Romance Category for the prestigious Quill Awards. Think of the Quill Awards as the first "consumers' choice" literary prizes. You, the readers, pick the winners!

Go to www.quillsvote.com to vote by September 15, 2005 and to learn more about the Quill Awards. (44 CRANBERRY POINT is also up for Book of the Year.)

That's all for this month.

Sandi Price
sandi@romanceauthorspage.com

CAROL FINCH, CONNIE FEDDERSEN
http://www.romanceauthorspage.com/carolfinch/

Howdy, y'all from down on the farm!

We've had an amazing amount of rain for August and the cattle have plenty of pasture. That's always great news. Since we have taken over more land I'm still helping my husband build fence, cultivate fields and work cattle. As soon as I do the revisions for Hawk's Woman--Carol Finch--June, 2006- western romantic adventure--we'll begin planting wheat. We'll be gearing up for one of the busiest times on the ranch and I'll be wishing I had time to sit down with a good book. So, read some for me, will ya?

And look for Lone Wolf's Woman--Carol Finch--in November from Harlequin Historicals. It has one of my favorite heroes. I hope Lone Wolf and Julia make a place for themselves in your heart!

Happy Reading,

Carol Finch, Connie Feddersen, et al.

Jill Marie Landis
http://www.jillmarielandis.com

Dear Readers,

Aloooooha to all!

After six fabulous months in Hawaii, I’m back in California enjoying the sun, sand and surf in my own backyard and finding time to catch up with mainland life, family, reader letters and emails, and friends.

While I was on island, working on some new ideas for future books, Steve and I both found time to entertain family and friends at our beach house. Guests enjoyed being photographed behind the legendary Tiki Bar in the carport and I’ve not only amassed quite a collection of photos, but I’m becoming quite the Tikiphile. Anything and everything “Tiki” has been lovingly given to me by my pals. (“Truly tacky” is the only standard they go by when shopping for something to add to my collection of mugs, masks, swizzle sticks and signs.)

In early June I signed my latest hardcover release HEARTBREAK HOTEL at the Borders store on Kauai where the book made the hardcover fiction top ten list. And I did a back flip (okay, maybe it was only in my mind that I executed the perfect back flip) when my agent called to say HEARTBREAK HOTEL had gone into reprint.

Fellow writers Kristin Hannah and Jill Barnett were both on island in late June. We spent hours lazing in the water on plastic floats tossing around plot ideas as we are all working on new projects. After a few tropical beverages complete with golden pineapple slices and bright paper umbrellas, the ideas really began to flow.

On July 4th I danced the hula with my hula sisters at Kirby Guyer’s annual Independence Day Beach/Birthday Bash. Old style Hawaiian entertainment traditionally goes on for hours. Kanikapila is the word for everyone joining in to make music. Steve played Slack Key guitar and our mainland guest, Roland Misajon, of Long Beach’s Elm Street Band even jammed with the locals while his wife, Lyn, cheered him on.

My cousin, Pamela Nickless, was on hand, too, all the way from North Carolina where she is a professor at UNC Asheville. It was so exciting to tour our little town with a true historian. You can bet we were both pretty amazed when she noticed an original Shaker sampler from the 1800’s hanging in the historic Mission House. Believe it or not, it was a thrill to try and track down its origins and find out how it might have ended up on Kauai.

I could go on and on, but instead I’ll just encourage you to drop by the website at www.jillmarielandis.com in the next few weeks. Soon you’ll be seeing some fun new pages and contest information, so keep checking in.

There are still some lovely days of Indian summer on the way and the kids are going back to school, so if you haven’t caught up with my first two contemporaries in the Twilight Cove trilogy, LOVER’S LANE and HEAT WAVE, this is the perfect time to get started. Both books are available in paperback and can be ordered from your local bookstore or check online at www.jillmarielandis.com I’m willing to bet you’ll love them so much you’ll track down a hardcover copy of HEARTBREAK HOTEL before it comes out in paperback next year.

So, until next time, here’s to the last days of summer, and as they say in Hawaii, aloha hui ho……… until we meet again!

Love,

Jill Marie

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

Hello to all of my readers,

I have to thank everyone for all of the emails and cards and the prayers that have come my way this past month. It has been one of the saddest times in my life and I am still struggling to deal with it. For those of you who do not know, my fiancé, Bobby, who was the love of my life, and whom I'd known since we were kids, died June 26th in our home, and in my arms. He died of liver cancer and my life is never going to be the same. But that's not all bad.

When I can think of him without weeping, I remember the energy that was always with him, and how alive the house was when he was in it. He made me laugh more in the past eight years we were together than I'd ever done before. He had a heart that was so big and encompassing, and to watch him with his beloved animals, especially the horses, was something I will never forget. They loved him unconditionally, and the hour before he died, the horses penned up on our property began to nicker, calling back and forth to each other as if they knew. The others that were pastured across the road, approx. eighty of them, stood silently at the gate, clustered together without moving and all looking at the house. It was eerie to see so many vibrant animals standing sentinel, as if waiting for their master to come.

And then he died, and when I looked out again, they were no longer there. They knew, as I did, that someone special was gone from their lives. The man who had lived with one foot in the world of the Indian and the other foot in the world of the white man was no more. When the people from the funeral home took Bobby out to the hearse, the big black stud horse, who's name is Lvmhe, the same as Bobby's Indian name, (pronounced lumhee, which means eagle in the Creek language) reared up on his hind legs in a most majestic salute to his master, and literally screamed, as if in pain.

I knew how he felt.

I'm so sorry to be telling a sad tale this time, but truthfully, I could do nothing else. Like the horses he so loved, this is my salute to the man who held my heart.

Fall is coming. Winter won't be far behind. It is a time for harvesting memories, and in the long cold days to come, those images I have in my head and my heart will be what keeps me warm.

Sharon Sala
aka
Dinah McCall

September Book Winners

Winners: Please email me kristen@romanceauthorspage.com within 3 days and send your correct snail mail address.

Autographed Hardback

Jill Marie Landis - MAGNOLIA CREEK
Winifred Nunes, Fairfield, CA

Paperback

Carol Finch - BOUNTY HUNTER'S BRIDE
Joanna Zehnal, Stow, OH
Jill Marie Landis - LOVER'S LANE
Nita McClanahan, Moore, OK
Sharon Sala - MISSING
Lesha Anderson, Newburgh, IN

That's All for this month,
Sandi