Our own Goddess Gail reminded me this week of the many hunks who populate the Olympic teams that have — and will — represent our country. She named Bode Miller, who is our first example. While googling (and oogling) Bode, I found some other Olympic stars worthy of the FROS title.

Here are a few glamorous examples of how the US plans to kick Olympic butt; if not on the field or pool, at least in the area of photogenic qualities.

And just look at these thighs …. (…sigh!…)

Welcome to Mt. Oly, guys! Make yourself at home!

Author’s Note: While all of these pictures represent world class athletes, one or two may be Australians or — I don’t really know, but ’some other’ nationality. They’re on FROS because they were too hawt not to post; I never could say ‘no’ to a good pair of thighs.

21 Comments »

I had an awakening the other day.  I was on deadline, and I went to Starbuck’s in (Claudia, look away from the computer for a moment) in some old, too big for me jeans, a ratty sweater, no makeup, and my hair in it’s wildest state.  I did not look presentable.  I looked like hell. But I had a deadline and that’s all I am going to say about that.

Anyway, I am standing at Starbuck’s at one of those walk-up windows.  There was no one there when I first pulled in.  But by the time I ordered and turned around, the cars were backed out onto the street and there was a line behind me.  I thought to myself, Wow.  Good thing I got here when I did.  And the lady standing next to me said, “I know.  I wonder where everyone came from?” 

I looked at her in horror.  I swear to you, I did not realize I said that out loud. I must have looked really stunned because she gave me one of those, are-you-crazy looks.  I realized in that terrifying moment that I have all the makings of a bag lady, because not only did I go out in public looking like one, I talked to myself and didn’t know it!  I talk to myself All. The. Time.

Jack London has noticed it.  He’ll say things like, “Do you always talk to yourself?” and I will realize that I just said something out loud.  When I had dogs, I would notice it on occasion because they would suddenly jump to attention.  It was because I had spoken out loud.  In the course of writing this blog, I just muttered, “you’ve got to be kidding me” aloud because I accidentally deleted a paragraph I’d just written.

I don’t think I always did this.  I am fairly certain that all those years I worked in offices, I was not the one everyone sniggered about behind their partitions.  I think I managed to keep my thoughts to myself.  So this is a frightening trend.  What else have I said aloud?  Where does it end?  How far removed am I from pushing a grocery cart full of trash up the street, muttering to myself?

Do you talk to yourself?  Do other people notice?  What is your biggest idiosyncrasy? Do you go out in public looking less than presentable?

79 Comments »

I’m bad with dates. I admit it. Not sure why, but there’s a reason I have a calendar that reminds me in several ways of various appointments, and even then I’ve been known to miss one because I didn’t check my calendar first thing when I got up. It’s a sickness, I swear.

I have this really BAD tendency to schedule things on the same day without making the connection. If it’s two different worlds (for example, my son’s school schedule and my public appearance schedule), they don’t correlate in my mind. At some point, however, the worlds inevitably cross and I am SO screwed when I realize I’m double-booked.

For the most part this problem has been eradicated by slavish use of an online calendar. But with my life so busy these days, even THAT doesn’t prevent all trouble. Like when my parents stayed longer after Thanksgiving than I’d expected, so I ended up with the following events scheduled on ONE day: their departure (someone had to drive them to the airport), my husband’s dental surgery (someone had to drive HIM to the dentist and back, on account of the drugs), and my own one-year appointment at Duke (which had been set up weeks in advance). Hubby hadn’t bothered to consult with me when he set up his surgery and my parents kind of had no choice, so I was screwed. Fortunately, the appointments were at different times, so somehow I managed to do all three. I ate in the car (twice), and had to really book it to Duke, though. Didn’t get any writing done that day, either. Duh.

So how are you with appointments? Are you better making some than others? What’s the worst appointment mess-up you ever had? Do you ever double-book? And what do you think of the new Dread Pirate Roberts action figure I got for Christmas–isn’t he dreamy??

48 Comments »

I’m an enthusiastic but permanently amateur techie. That means I love all of the new gadgets, but can’t figure out how to program my TiVo. But once I figure it out, step back! This chick can make a gadget SING!

Yesterday, Apple Computers announced their newest device, the iPad, a hi-def, high memory, long-battery-life touch screen micro-computer.

Some tech reviewers loved it while some seemed disappointed it wasn’t more … startling. In the past, Apple has dazzled the real techies with brand new technologies and this one, while cool, seemed almost familiar. Some tech reviewers felt the iPad was just a very large iPod.

But I disagree. From an amateur techie point of view, I think the iPad is beyond the iPod. In fact, I think it’s the shape of laptops to come.

Why? Because it can do about anything a laptop can do. Hook up to the ‘net? Got it. Word processing? Got it. Hi def for watching movies and video? Got it. Touch screen for easy composition of emails and documents? Got it. Excellent speakers and microphone for Skype? Got it.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

The best part? All of this for $499.

That’s right … $499.

Here are the basic specs:

Size: 1/2 inch thick with 9.7 inch display

Weight: 1.5 lbs

Cost and memory: $500 – $700 depending on memory –16 gig, 32 gig, 64 gig)

Battery: 10-hour life, a month on standby (standby means that if you set it down, it will go to ’sleep’ up to a month and still have battery power)

Other amenities: bluetooth, wi-fi, speakers, built-in micophone, ipod/iphone connector and more.

But what about ebooks, you may ask? Just read what the Telegraph has to say about this:

“Zooming, scrolling and flicking through photos feels just like rifling through a real picture album, while the huge virtual keyboard, with its big, responsive buttons, is a pleasure to type on. The iPad excels too, as a gaming device, with stunning graphics and simple controls. But the best feature is iBooks, the e-book reading software that knocks Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader into a cocked hat.

Novels are beautifully presented, lined up on a virtual bookshelf, complete with sleeve art.

The pages of the books resemble proper printed pages, with a sense of texture and authenticity to them. Turning pages is achieved with a swiping gesture, or a single tap in the right-hand margins.

Downloading books is incredibly easy too, with the iBookstore built straight in to iTunes, and a wide selection of books from five major publishers already available at launch.”

Nice, eh? I’m excited. Nay, THRILLED.

So, what do you think? Would you use an iPad? Do you think this is just a big iPod? Or do you agree that perhaps it’s the face of future laptops-to-come? And would you read an ebook on this product?

68 Comments »

My family may kill me after this since I plan to share some of their deepest, darkest, personal, most intimate secrets: their nicknames.

Let me start by saying I like most nicknames. Often they’re a sign of affection and/or shared history. My dad was a champion nicknamer. He used to come up with these long convoluted phrases that had little meaning except to us.

My childhood nickname was AggalitiesBumuntly (don’t ask me how I got that cause I haven’t a clue!), which got shortened to Aggie and is still used by my family to this day. My sis’s long name is unpronounceable but her short one is Miggie. And my 6′2″ 220 # ex-Army-Ranger-Vet bro was known as Binky when he was a kid. We still get a kick out of that. Even more amusing is that his wife’s childhood nickname is Linky. Binky-Linky. Wonder if fate was at work there?

My dh I call F.P.  but I can’t share what the initials mean in public or he really would kill me. It’s not bad, just silly and affectionate. I’ve always called my mother Moggs, which also expresses love, even though a stranger would never think so. I call my new little computer laptop Netbook “Junior” to differentiate him from my office laptop, which by default must be Senior.

My gorgeous 17-hand Irish Thourougbred jumper I named Irish Outlaw after the Western romance I was writing at the time. But he became Bestest Favorite Pony. I use Pony when he’s in my good graces and Big Twit when he’s not.

My young Warmblood hunter mare was registered as Rivella at birth because of her long championship breeding (names in her sire’s line all start with RIV.) But since dh thought that sounded too much like the wicked stepsister in Cinderella, we shortened her barn name to Riva and use Cloud Nine as her show name, after one of dh’s favorite ski runs. She’s Pretty Filly when she’s good, and something unprintable when she’s bad.

My equine trainer is wonderful at coming up with names for horses in her barn…. such as Pop Tart (he loves to eat them), Hey Bartender (a play on his owner, who doesn’t drink,) and Area 51 (the owner’s scientist dad worked at Roswell.) And her pet goat is named Alverson, Alvie for short.

Then there’s my father-in-law’s nickname for my nephew, which isn’t pretty. How would you like to be known as Stinkbutt to your friends? Or maybe you have something that can top that? 

Also, I should mention that I’m offering a nifty prize for my January website contest to celebrate the release of To Tame a Dangerous Lord, and there are only a few more days left to enter. I would love for one of our Goddesses to win!

Do you go by any nicknames — and do they have any significance? Do you have nicknames for other people or pets? What’s the best and worst nicknames you’ve ever heard (please remember to keep it clean or Zeus will zap me!)

79 Comments »

Today is a big day in my writing career. Ravishing in Red is released today. It is the first book I have had out in a year. The first book in a new series. And the first book with my new publisher.

Now, maybe you think the title of this blog should be Cheers, Celebrations and Delerious Happiness but, well, this is ME and I like to be honest with all you other goddesses. Trust me, my title is more appropriate to where my head is today.

The truth is that release days are stressful for me, and this one has been more intense than usual. My DH has been finding excuses to stay out of my way for a while now, because I have gotten a little hard to live with. Neurotic worrying started a couple of weeks ago, and has just built.(What if there is a blizzard and all the books end up in a train wreck? What if none of the stores remember to stock it until April? What if—-).  Today I will concentrate far too much of my mental energy on obsessing over the book’s release, and trying to talk  the Force into being with me.

This will continue for at least another week. During that time, I will enter every store that carries books wracked with fear that my book either won’t be there or will be invisible on the bottom shelf. Common sense says just stay out of stores, but instead I will find excuses to go to as many as possible so my neurotic worrying can be fed. I will pounce on any online mention of a sighting of my book, and even ask my readers to feed me those little morsels of relief. I will clench just a little as I open reader email, braced for it to say “man, this one sucks!.” And, as the bestseller info starts filtering out next week, I will pretend I am not waiting to hear, when in fact the waiting will pretty much immobilize me.

The whole experience reminds me of my fear of flying. For years a plane fight for me involved a week of worrying in advance. Then, when the plane began to take off I would inhale—and, in a manner of speaking, hold my breath until we landed. I might look normal there in that seat, but my mind and nerves were on hyper alert, so much so that I used to joke that only my nervous energy kept that plane in the air. Worrying about a new release absorbs all my energy the same way. I suspect my subconscious thinks that if I worry and stress enough, it will keep the book “up in the air” just like those planes.

 Someone once told me the official name of a fear of flying. It had phobia at the end of it. Only a phobia, according to the dictionary, involves an irrational fear. In my opinion there is nothing irrational at all about being afraid to fly. (Lemme see—great big metal object weighing many tons rises into air and speeds along on wind and wings, and I am afraid it might fall? Nope, nothing irrational there.) There isn’t anything irrational going on with my NRNS (New Release Neurotic Syndrome) either. I am just having, in both cases, a normal human reaction to being unable to control a situation where the final result really matters to me.

So if you run into me this week and my eyes appear a little wild, and my mood seems a little frantic, now you know why. NRNS passes about 10 days after release, and I’ll be back to normal then. 

Do you have fears or phobias? Afraid of heights (my DH is, to the point of physical distress)? Snakes ? Other things?

 Do you have situations where fears and nervousness just kick in every time, whether it is dentist visits or anything else?

Have you overcome some prior fear? (I am happy to say that after much experience in planes, I pretty much did. The fear just gave up one day.)

****An Advanced Reading Copy of Provocative in Pearls (my March release) will be given away today to someone who makes a comment.

156 Comments »

I recently wrote a wedding scene that’s an epilogue to my April/May books I CAN SEE YOU and SILENT SCREAM.  (That was the shameless self-promo part.)  The wedding scene will be posted on my website and on my publisher’s website for readers to enjoy after SILENT SCREAM’s release.

It got me thinking about my own wedding and the vows Mr. R and I spoke, 24 years ago this coming June. That’s us.  Weren’t we darling?  And young.

I was graduating college and planning a move and the start of a new job while planning my wedding.  It was … stressful.  Looking back, I feel the tug of regret that I rushed through the experience – like choosing my vows.

I didn’t really choose them, per se.  A relative did the wedding and he’d chosen a very old-fashioned set of vows that included the words “Plight thee my trothed.”

What did that mean?  Well, like, now I know.  I’ve read historical romances, so I get the trothed part.  But then I was 21 and didn’t get it.  I said, “No.  Don’t put that in.”

My relative was obviously disappointed.  In my youth I didn’t get that part, but in all fairness, I was the bride and it was supposed to be about me, right? Silly me.

I still chuckle as I recall what happened next.  We moved on to discuss the “Love, honor, and cherish” part, except “cherish” wasn’t what was coming out of the minister’s mouth.  It was, instead, “Obey.”

“Whoa,” I said, “stop the presses.  Ain’t no way, no how.  I’m not saying obey.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the room.  “What do you mean, you’re not saying ‘obey’?” my mother demanded.  Poor Mom.

I remember lifting my chin.  “I will stand next to him, not behind him.  I will not obey.”

Well, the family hit me with both barrels, while my fiance watched, truly perplexed and (curse him, LOL) a little amused.  Finally my mother turned to Mr. R and said, “Well?  Tell her to say ‘obey.’”

Without missing a beat Mr. R returned, “You mean you want me to tell her to LIE in front of God and everyone?”

Ladies and gentlemen, if I hadn’t known by then that I loved him, that cemented the deal.  Bless his heart.  Imbued with new resolve, I stated that I would neither say “Obey” or “Plight thee my trothed.”  Standing in front of the church in my wedding finery a week later, I gave a little sigh when the minister read “I plight thee my trothed” from his little book.  At least he didn’t say “Obey.”

I‘ve heard some lovely wedding vows over the years.  How about you?  If you’ve tied the big knot, did you say traditional vows or write your own?  Do you even remember what you said?  What are the loveliest vows you’ve heard in a wedding – either yours or someone else’s ceremony?  What were the strangest?

53 Comments »