Before I get started, 2 things:

#1, tune in on 1/12 for a FABULOUS announcement. I know what it is (nyah, nyah), and I’m not telling you. (You may attempt bribery through gifts of chocolate. It will not work, but you may attempt. Bribery chocolate will not be returned to sender. Just so you know.)
#2, TODAY is the paperback release of SCREAM FOR ME, the second in my Vartanian family series. This book was released in hardcover last May and was a NYT and a London Sunday Times bestseller, so if you missed it, here’s your $6.99 chance!

That was shameless promo, in case you missed it. Let’s move on.

In the spirit of screaming, today’s blog is about your nightmares. This blog started on Christmas Day, when I began a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon with my oldest child. I was a Buffy-virgin. Never seen it. Gotta say, I’m hooked. Turns out Buffy fights more than Vampires. Who knew? In one episode, something squirrelly is going on and people’s worst nightmares have come to life. Shiver. I remember this because poor Xander (Buffy’s pal) shows up to class in his boxers! Gasp!

I felt sorry for poor Xander, because I’ve had that nightmare. I’ve also had the one where I show up to class on the day of the final and never cracked the book. I’m doomed! I still have that dream, at my age. The last intense time was when I had just turned a book in to my editor.

Now, when I write, I go all out. I barely sleep, eat all the wrong things, drink way too much TAB, and I write. Nothing else. So I turned in this book and fell face first in the bed. I was still teaching high school back then and I dreamed I got a call from my principal, yelling at me for FAILING some computer class. I was crying that I didn’t even SIGN UP for the class. (Not to mention that I was a teacher for heaven’s sake, but it was a dream.) I woke, terrified - with the phone in my hand.

Now the worst part of this experience was not knowing if my principal, or some other innocent soul, had really called and I had really babbled like a crazy person. The next time I saw my principal, I scrutinized him carefully and saw no signs of hilarious laughter at my expense. It was an art school, though, and he was an actor, so to this day, I’m not so sure.

So what are your nightmares? Here are some common ones to get you going:
1. Monsters
2. Falling
3. Bugs/Snakes
4. Being chased
5. Harmless Animal Turning Vicious - I’ve had this one. It’s usually chickens…
6. Being exposed (poor Xander!)
7. Being Trapped - can’t run
8. Saying really stupid things to your boss
9. People forgetting to go out and buy SCREAM FOR ME

What were your nightmares as a kid? What are they now? Do you like Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Are you running to get SCREAM FOR ME?

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For Refreshment Only Sunday wants to start YOUR year with something new, fresh and irresistible!

So, without further ado, here is our first FROS of a shiny new season, the hot and sexy MATTHEW FOX!

Nice, hm?

Naturally, you’ll also want a close-up:

Check out those EYES! Wowza!

As well as a glimpse of his sense of style:

Yup. He's got class, style, AND panache!

Dearest FROSiers, may your year be as bright, shiny, and hugable as the delightful Matthew Fox!

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I know this is the time of year when most people make New Years resolutions. I don’t. There is just something about the word resolution that seems to strict to me. And I am so perverse that I rebel against anything strict or restrictive. Probably why I got kicked out of Girl’s Scouts and later, drill team.

So every year instead of resolutions, I make New Years suggestions. As in “I really want to stop yelling at other drivers–even though they totally deserve it.”

So here are my suggestions for 2009:

1. Lose 25 pounds–but nineteen is okay.

2. Meet my May 1st deadline–but June 15th isn’t that late.

3. Get a hobby–other than laying on the couch watching true crime shows.

4. Stop swearing–although, cutting back counts and is probably more attainable.

5. Try to be more patient-this would be totally easy if it wasn’t for all the slow, inept people in the world who make me swear and yell at them out the window.

What are your New Years suggestions?

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I love giving prizes!

And so, on this, the first full day after New Year’s Eve Recovery Day, I have decided to give a prize — a lovely, satin-covered journal and matching pen.

I’m not kidding when I say this journal is totally cool. My daughter is totally cool and she’s been wanting it since she first found it on my desk. She slipped it into her own Christmas stocking, but I rescued it and it’s been hidden in the Christmas Paper Box ever since.

You are SO going to wish you had this journal. It’s perfect for recording thoughts, jotting down ideas or plans, or writing that hot, best-selling novel you’ve been thinking about for months now and just haven’t gotten around to writing. Yet.

To win this gorgeous journal just list one thing you’re grateful for in the upcoming year. I’ve always been of the opinion that gratitude is one of the first steps to happiness, so why shouldn’t we begin 2009 with a little Happiness Training? Can’t hurt, eh?

Here, let me begin.

One thing I’m grateful for:

Yup, my kids. Handsome, aren’t they? They’ve been here for two weeks and I’m soooo going to miss them when they go back to school. They look all tough in this picture but they were really just glaring at me for taking so many pictures.

Hey, I got a new camera. I was ALLOWED.

Another thing I’m grateful for:

You knew that was coming, didn’t you? He’s looking good! Wolverine, the movie, here I come!

Oh, and this, too:

I’ve never won a RITA, which is the award for the best in romance writing. Still, I’ve been nominated a few times and I’m glad she’s around because every year I get to dream about MAYBE winning one and that’s a lot of fun, too.

So . . . LIST (ONE THING PER POST, PLEASE) WHAT YOU’RE GRATEFUL FOR IN THE UPCOMING YEAR. And the more things you’re grateful for, the more chances you have of winning a totally cool, completely gorgeous, satin-covered journal!

134 Comments »

As we enter a new year filled with excitement and adventure, fun and thrills, challenges and opportunities, your goddess authors would like to take a moment to wish each and every one of our goddess readers, writers, and friends a happy, happy, HAPPY New Year!

May you and your family have a golden year filled with love, laughter, and romance!

26 Comments »

This is it, folks, the end of another year. If you’re like me, you’re looking around in a daze thinking, “Like, dude. How did this happen? How did it get to be December 31?” Well, the same way it always does, LOL. The sun rose and set 365 times.

Some of us may be focusing on New Year’s Resolutions. This day does seem to be a good opportunity for reflection and goal setting. But before you make your To Do list of all the things you’ll change or “do better” in 2009, take a minute to look back at this year with us goddesses on Mt. Oly. What did you accomplish this year?

Okay, here are the rules:
1. Nobody uses the word BUT. As in, I did this [wonderful thing], but I didn’t do [something else]. I’m really serious. No BUTs.
2. Nobody makes a resolution. There will be time for that later.
3. Anything you did that you’re happy with, counts! You don’t have to have been Michael Phelps winning 8 Golds in Beijing. And you don’t have to have written a book. Everybody has done SOMETHING this year.
4. You may Rah-Rah the accomplishments of others as unique posts (because I’m putting posts in a hat and drawing book winners, see below).
5. If you forget an accomplishment, feel free to post again.

P-R-I-Z-E-S. This is the time to celebrate what we’ve done as the sun has risen and set 365 times this year. And, to sweeten the pot (and to unabashedly promo my new releases), I’ll be drawing 4 lucky goddesses. Three will get 1 book each: DIE FOR ME, SCREAM FOR ME (out in paperback this Monday!) and an arc for KILL FOR ME, (out in hardcover on 2/2)! The fourth goddess drawn gets all three, the entire Vartanian family series. What better way to celebrate our achievements than through hot heroes, strong heroines, and vile villainy? (Oh, and hot sex. Can’t forget about that!)

So, let the self-praising, high-fiving, and rah-rah-ing begin! I’ll go first, in no particular order:

1. I wrote two books this year. Woot.
2. I helped get two members of my family through some health issues, navigating doctors and treatments.
3. I filed my taxes. (Just in case the IRS is watching. You never know.)
4. I proudly saw my oldest daughter graduate from high school and cried a river.
5. Two of my books were on bestseller lists in three different countries at the same time. AWESOME. (That’s the UK SCREAM FOR ME and the German translation of DIE FOR ME.)
6. I connected up with old friends from high school after 25 years.
7. I took my family on a vacation of a lifetime, and I drove 1400 miles through the UK in 12 days without a scratch on the rental car!
8. I lost 17 pounds!!! (Here is where not saying “BUT” comes in. I’m leading through example, here.) I lost 17 pounds. Period.
9. I deepened friendships and made new ones, many through this blog.
10. I adopted a second kitty from a shelter, giving her a new home. Her name is Kali (Hindu Goddess of Death and Destruction, of course).

I might think of some more later. Go at it, goddesses. Share and feel proud of what you did in 2008!

64 Comments »

New Year’s. A time for looking back before you look ahead, which started me thinking…

I’ve lived in the city and I’ve lived in a small town and I’ve lived in the country, and no matter where I lived while I was a kid, dogs ran free. Those days are gone, and I miss them.

When I was a kid, you opened the door and the dog ran outside, really outside, not just in a fenced backyard. Dogs roamed the streets, sniffing, saying hi to the neighbors, trotting around and checking things out. Everybody knew every dog by name. No one was alarmed to see a dog in their front yard or in their garage or cruising through their back yard. People actually greeted the dogs in their yard, neighbor to neighbor.

Dogs ran along next to kids when they rode bikes, eyes shining with joy.

Dogs ran through the kids, tongues hanging out, when they played tag.

Dogs were a part of the landscape of life. Some dogs were more friendly than others, but all dogs were okay. No dog I ever heard of ever bit anyone. Were dogs happier and more well adjusted because they got lots of exercise, is that why they didn’t bite? I don’t know. All I know is that I miss those days. I miss seeing dogs belonging to the neighborhood. Having a dog now is a bit like being a prison warden to a crazed killer. The dog cannot escape! The dog must be monitored at all times! The dog must be restrained!

I miss the days when dogs ran free, when Lassie could find someone to get Timmy out of the well. Who would help Timmy now? The cat?

Did you grow up with dogs roaming the streets? Did you like it? Do you like it better now that dogs are nearly always required to be leashed?

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