Brenda Novak is the national bestselling author of 25 novels. Summer 2008 will see the release of her next three romantic suspense stories—TRUST ME, STOP ME, and WATCH ME. Visit www.brendanovak.com to participate in her annual on-line auction for diabetes research which takes place May 1 – May 31st. So far, together with her generous donors and shoppers, Brenda has raised more than $250,000 to help her son and others like him.

So without further ado, here is the awesome Brenda Novak!
As a writer, I always get asked whether I write from personal experience. In ways, I do, and the new series I’m kicking off this summer is a perfect example of that. TRUST ME (May 27^th), STOP ME (June 24^th) and WATCH ME (July 29^th) are based on a fictional victim’s charity in Sacramento called The Last Stand. The three heroines met at a victim’s support group after each one experienced a different kind of violence. They’re determined to heal, to fight back and to help others do the same, which is why they decide to start The Last Stand.

While my fictional charity is geared toward violent crime because I write romantic suspense and thought it would be fascinating to see these women tackle some very interesting and difficult cases, the concept of using personal passion to motivate came from my own desire to make a difference to those struggling with diabetes.

Six years ago, when my youngest son was diagnosed with Type 1, I felt hurt and wanted to fight back, too. Desperately. I just didn’t know how. I had five kids at home and some very tight book deadlines. But then I attended a silent auction at the local elementary school and realized that I could do a similar event on my Web site, where I could utilize the traffic I’d already established.

In my first three auctions, I managed to raise a combined total of $250,000, and the 2008 auction looks as if it will at least match that amount. A shopper’s paradise, it will have plenty items to fit every budget from a drumhead signed by a whole slew of famous music artists (Michael Jackson, Ringo Starr, Bruce Springstein, and far too many others to list) to a treasure trove of miscellaneous items donated by aspiring author Lauren Hawkeye. And that’s not all. For those who are aspiring to become a novelist or to advance their writing career, there will be AMAZING opportunities. Many of the most powerful agents and editors in the business have donated evaluations—some with the promise of a 24-hour response (which is unheard of in the publishing industry).

How does it all work? Just like E-Bay, except this auction runs at www.brendanovak.com and only through the month of May (May 1 – May 31^st). Visit that URL to register. When the bidding is over, you can pay with Paypal, credit card or personal check/money order. In most instances the donor even picks up the shipping. And the person who places the highest number of bids over all, even if that person doesn’t win a single item, will receive a fabulous prize package including a brand new camcorder (worth over $1,000), Your Name in My Next Book, an autographed copy of TRUST ME, and chocolate (lots of chocolate!).

Check out the auction, and while you’re at my Web site, enter to win a spectacular trip to Port Orchard and Bainbridge Island (sponsored by Allison Brennan, Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs and myself), and receive a $10 gift certificate you can use toward your auction purchases. Here’s to making a difference!

Have you ever wanted to fight back? How did you do it? Do you have any questions about the auction? What cool items have you won in past charity auctions? Do you prefer on-line shopping to brick & mortar shopping? Do you think this “wave of the future” will eventually overtake traditional fundraising? I’ll be giving away an ARC from TRUST ME to one lucky blogger today!

89 Comments »

If you’ve ever watched Stargate: SG1, you know that the characters spend their days stepping through a stable worm-hole type thing and stepping out the other side onto another planet. Different colors, different temperatures, really weird creatures, Dom DeLuise – they’ve seen it all.

So this got me to thinking. If I could design a planet, what would I include? What would I exclude?

I’d definitely want oceans and mountains, because who wants to look at just flat everywhere? No deserts, because they’re too hot and dry. No marshes or bogs, because they’re too soggy. Lots of trees and meadows, and winged cute furry things with pretty singing voices. Some cute, furry, non-dangerous land animals would be nice, but I could do without bugs and bitey things.

Oh, and I’d want the ground to be purple, because I look good in purple. And maybe the oceans could be iridescent, and the fish would be white and black. That would look cool.

And I wouldn’t name my planet anything like Earth. Come on. Who thought that up? I would name my planet…Suzannicus. Or Enochopia. Or Avalon, maybe, if I was feeling more high-brow.

What particular thing would you like to see on your very own planet? What would you call your planet? And what would the weather be like?

22 Comments »

Bestselling author of nineteen novels, Linda Francis Lee is a former Texas Debutante who has high hopes that all photos of the experience are long gone, and was once overheard remarking, “What was I thinking with that hair?” She currently lives in New York City with her husband where she has learned it’s not a good idea to say things like “Aren’t you sweet” on the subway. She loves hearing from readers at www.lindafrancislee.com.

So … without further ado … Stranger in a Strange Land

When my husband told me that his job was taking us to the northeast, the born and raised Texan in me couldn’t decide if I needed a glass of sweet tea or a shot of bourbon to get over the shock. Covering all bases, I went for both then started to pack. I wasn’t sure if I was headed for the land of Hill Street Blues or Sex and the City, but I was excited and terrified in equal measures. What I learned from living in New York City for the last nine years is that New York is not entirely either. And while I miss Texas and my family (not to mention driving), I have fallen in love with the city that never sleeps. But that doesn’t mean I fit in.

As soon as we arrived in Manhattan, I realized that New Yorkers live by rules that no one bothered to share with me when I crossed the state line. Pretty quickly I learned that a man isn’t being rude when he gets into a cab first, he’s simply doing the NY gentlemanly thing of sliding all the way across the back seat so the lady doesn’t have to. I figured out that in NYC fashion is about style not necessarily beauty, and my big blond hair was a big Fashion Don’t. So I dressed in black and flattened my hair, but still people on the street asked me where I was from. Clearly there were more elusive “rules” a person had to learn in order to fit in.

And that’s when it hit me. I should write about those secret handshakes of life we all have to learn in order to prove we fit in. Sure, I would write about manners and etiquette, but I could include strong Texas men who believe rules are made to be broken. I ditched the black clothes and refluffed my hair, then dove back into writing. With that THE EX-DEBUTANTE and THE DEVIL IN THE JUNIOR LEAGUE were born.

Deciphering “the rules” of any given world can make you laugh as easily as make your mouth fall open in stunned amazement. Do any of your groups of friends have unspoken rules that must be learned?

73 Comments »

Join us on Thursday when we welcome Linda Francis Lee, bestselling author of nineteen novels.  Linda’s new book, The Ex-Debutante will be available April 1!  Check out her website at www.lindafrancislee.com.

4 Comments »

Sophia was born in Switzerland, raised in France and the United States, but says her heart resides in Regency England. Her ancestor, an infamous French admiral who traded epic cannon fire with the British Royal Navy, is surely turning in his grave. Before pursuing her long held dream of writing, Sophia was an award winning television producer, a congressional speechwriter, and a CEO of the Washington International Horse Show. She lives in the Washington, D.C. suburbs with her husband and two children.  Sophia first three novels won eight national awards, including Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award, Romantic Times’ Best Regency Award, and a spot on Booklist’s “Top Ten Romances of the Year.” Her most current novel, THE KISS, was released by HarperCollins just last week!

Welcome, Sophia!!

Often, I think life is nothing more than a haphazard game of chance filled with unspeakably embarrassing moments which frequently end in disaster. Yes, I am one of those, “the glass is half full types” ;-} As a result, it should come as no surprise that in my March Historical release, The Kiss, the heroine is saddled with great moments of embarrassment. But I think this makes her happily ever after all the more poignant, don’t you? Isn’t that why we cheer when Mark Darcy kisses Bridget Jones?

I think we should applaud our embarrassments. If there is any justice in the world, a gross amount of hideous incidents should result in our own happily ever afters. Well, since I was invited here to entertain you, and the fact that all the other guest goddesses have stripped the vine bare of details concerning the boring life of a writer, I propose that we dissect our own perfect moments of horror.

Now I’m not talking about simple embarrassments, like the time I fell over an uprooted palm tree while reporting live on camera during a hurricane in Miami. I’m talking about events that haunt you to the grave.

For example, I shall never forget the last interview I endured for a top secret security clearance while working for the federal government. I walked into a bare room and came face to face with one of the most incredibly handsome men I’ve ever met. He proceeded to tell me that he was tasked to ask very explicit questions to determine if candidates were blackmail risks. Now try and image Mr. Pierce Brosnan look-alike with the Welsh burr asking the most embarrassing sexual questions possible: who, what, where, how often-lassie, what positions, experimentation and much worse…well, I almost passed out from the tension. After about the tenth question I think I called him laddie inadvertently and began to laugh uncontrollably. How I passed the clearance interview, I’ll never know. I still have nightmares about the possibility of running into that blue-eyed Welshman again.

Alright, I’ve spilled my Bridget Jones moment, what’s your all time most embarrassing event? And do you think experiences like these make you a stronger/better person? Or maybe gives you an extra straw in drawing one of life’s hard-won happily ever afters?

102 Comments »

Next Thursday, 3/6 we welcome the lovely and talented Sophia Nash to the Mount!  Sophia first three novels won eight national awards, including Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award, Romantic Times’ Best Regency Award, and a spot on Booklist’s “Top Ten Romances of the Year.” Her most current novel, THE KISS, was released by HarperCollins just last week!

2 Comments »

Gracious goddesses, welcome beloved author and guest goddess SHERRILYN KENYON!

We are blessed to have Sherrilyn here on Mt. Oly to help us celebrate our birthday week! Known for writing some of the alpha-est heroes on the planet, and her sophisticated creation of other worlds, Sherrilyn’s books have reached millions of readers here and across the world.

Sherrilyn has two releases out this month, too!

Everyone, welcome Sherrilyn Kenyon!

Migraines, Mammograms & Minions

Hi everyone, hope you’re having a great week and month! I have to say my month started off strangely. I’m not the most health conscious of people, but I never play with cancer prevention. I lost both my parents to it and I spend a lot of time every year on cancer fundraisers.

So when it was time to do my mammogram, the good Lord put my devotion to the test… I woke up with a VICIOUS migraine, which I always think is a brain tumor because let’s face it, I’m a hypochondriac, but at least I admit it and know it. When I refused to cancel the appointment, my hubby looked at me like I had two heads which I felt as if I did cause it hurt bad enough to accommodate two of them.

Hubby being the wonderful man he is (or maybe he was just protecting the car) volunteered to drive me to the appointment. You know, it’s hard to drive when you can’t open your eyes but I was willing to try (aren’t you glad you weren’t on the road that day). I go and well, if the Inquisition didn’t implement mammograms with migraines, they were seriously missing out on a very special kind of torture.

I survived, but Ow!!! A few hours later, hubby cames home with my older two from school. My boys are major gamers, like their mom (who finally learned how to keep her remote out of the hands of her sons. I bought a pink one. It was ingenious).

Anyway, middle son comes in with the game Devil May Cry for more torture, but you know for DMC, it’s worth a little pain. Head still hurting, I crawled up with my pink remote and learned something about myself. I am my son’s game minion. Because of my dyslexia I STINK at following directions and I constantly run the wrong direction (or worse run into walls). What I excel at is killing things.

So my sons run me to the bad guys and let me break Rambo on them. I’m the mindless, dumb, brute force LOL. I am the JUGGERNAUT, kukukachoo. Then again, aren’t all mom’s the minions of their young?

My question for you guys is simple… what weirdness are you willing to do for the sake of your loved ones? Hope you guys have a great month! Hugs!

56 Comments »

We open our celebration week by welcoming back our first ever guest goddess blogger, Carly Phillips! A huge New York Times best-seller, Carly’s fresh and funny contemporaries have taken the romance world (and all of us on Mt. Oly!) by storm.

Everyone, say hello to the phenomenal Carly Phillips!

CARLY PHILLIPS TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

I was thrilled when the Goddesses asked me to return to the Mount! Of course, I’m not a Goddess in the real world. Far from it.

Let’s take an average day – like today – and let me show you what I mean:

6:00 am: Alarm goes off. Yell for daughters to get up.
6:10 am: Yell again for daughters to get up.
6:20 am: Yell again, but this time, insist they each answer me so I know they’re up.
6:30 am: Get up and fix breakfast.
7:00 am: Daughters leave for school.
7:30 am: Shower and dress for 9:30 doctor’s appointment
8:30 am: Realize appointment is at 9 and rush madly around house.
9:00 am: Doctor’s appointment.
9:21 am: Headache.
10:20 am: Dropped mother’s car off at gas station to get flat tire repaired.
11:00 am: Back home to do some paperwork
11:30 am: Plumber arrived to fix broken master bathroom toilet.
Noon: Lunch
12:15 pm: Oldest daughter called from school with bad headache.
12:30 pm: Drove to school to pick up daughter.
1:00 pm: Made important phone calls.
2:00 pm: Post office to mail important packages.
3:00 pm: To school to pick up other daughter.
4:00 pm: Got home as husband did. Drove him back to the gas station to get mother’s repaired car.
4:30 pm: Picked up youngest daughter for her doctor’s appointment.
5:45 pm: Headed home to make dinner.
5:50 pm: Found dog ‘presents’ on kitchen floor.
6:00 pm: Mopped kitchen floor. Twice.
7:00 pm: Dinner.
8:00 pm: Cleaned up after dinner.
9:00 pm: Finally settle down to do some work.

Who’s the goddess now?

Like all women who work and are mothers and wives and daughters, writers are busy. Though we get to write stories we love, we certainly don’t feel very ‘glamorous’ in our day-to-day lives. That’s why I love the internet. I can be a (plot) monkey in our happy jungle one day (www.plotmonkeys.com); and a goddess on another. Most of all, I get to meet and greet readers and people who enjoy the same things I do – a good book and a computer to hide behind!

Do your days, like mine, get so filled with family and life business that it’s hard to get your work done? What keeps you from completing the things you most want to do? Has the internet been a good escape for you from the real worries of day-to-day life/work/parenting/etc. or is it just another distraction?

65 Comments »

We are lucky here on the Mt. I mean really, REALLY lucky. Not only did we score Susan Elizabeth Phillips for two FULL (and YUMMY) days, but we’ve also managed to beg — er, I mean, tempt — New York Times bestselling novelist Carly Phillips into kicking off our birthday week!

That’s right, THE Carly Phillips. The New York Times bestselling Carly Phillips. The woman we all want to be.

THAT Carly Phillips.

Years ago, Carly gave up legal briefs in favor of writing romance and ever since she’s worked hard to deliver a sexy fun read in her twenty-five plus published books. Carly Phillips started her writing career with Harlequin Temptation in 1999 with Brazen, and she’s never strayed far from home!

In 2002 Carly’s book, The Bachelor, was chosen by Kelly Ripa on Live! With Regis and Kelly for her Reading with Ripa Bookclub, making it the first romance to be selected by a nationally televised bookclub.

Carly lives in Purchase, New York, with her husband, two daughters and a frisky soft-coated wheaten terrier who acts like their third child. More information on Carly can be found at her website or her writers’ blog!

Stop by Monday as we welcome the funny, sparkly Carly Phillips to The Goddess Blogs!

1 Comment »

We’re thrilled to have the phenomenally talented, gracious, and lovely author, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, with us for another wonderful day! Let’s give her yet another big, warm Mt. Oly welcome!

Blog 2, Food Memories and Romance

Attention, class! Please review yesterday’s blog before you join us for today’s discussion about food memory and romance. I was nineteen when I had my first serious romance, and my boyfriend was twenty-one. His favorite drink was a sloe gin fizz. Shouldn’t that have told me something?

The boy I pined over after I broke up with Sloe Gin Fizz only took me on one date. A Chinese restaurant. He suggested I order duck, which I did because I wanted to please him. Lesson learned. Never eat duck just to please a man. He didn’t ask me out again.

When I think about food memories and my husband, I think about pancakes. Of the thousands of meals I’ve fixed him over the years, blueberry pancakes are his favorite. Even a photo of a blueberry pancake reminds me of him. I remember the festive foods of the 70s that I fixed as a young bride: cheese and meat fondues, franks with grape jelly and cocktail sauce for hors d’oeuvres, my sickeningly sweet spinach salad. My husband also loves potato chips, which score high on my internal junk food evaluation scale, but which also make me smile.

When Zach, our youngest, was two, he suffered from numerous ear infections, and I was terrified he was going to end up with hearing loss. One day my husband went in the kitchen to sneak some potato chips while Zach was upstairs playing. Bill opened the package with the barest whisper of rattling paper. Immediately, from the second floor, I heard our two-year-old cry out, “Cheeps! Cheeps!” As he ran downstairs, I nearly wept with joy. Obviously, his hearing was just fine.

But I’m getting sidetracked. This is about food and romance. Food and boyfriends─good and bad. Food and husbands, significant others, men we’ve longed for from afar, men we should never have longed for. Conjure up anything?

73 Comments »