Hump Day Hunk

Just a little behind this morning...

I was so happy to write THE END to my historical Sunday I thought I'd celebrate with another good end.

Cheeky of me, huh?

Ok, enough already. Time to go to work before I make an a** of myself. hee hee

New cover!!!

Yay! Mailed out The Scorpion and the Seducer and today I received the cover for my Dec. Nocturne, THE EMPATH. What do you think? He looks pretty smoking to me. She looks like she can't wait to rip his clothing off. It's a very sensual book and I think the cover fits the book!

Uploaded a first chapter excerpt to The Empath today to my website. Check it out here!

It's over and I cried!

Sob sob!

I FINALLY finished the book!

The Scorpion and the Seducer is DONE. FINI! COMPLETED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's printed and in a box, ready to be mailed.

I cried when I read over the ending. Oh, it was soooo sweet. I felt like Joan Wilder in that first scene in Romancing the Stone, crying as she finished her book.

Then again, maybe I cried with relief because I was finally finished. LOL! Yeah, that's it. The book sucks. NO, it doesn't. Yes, it does. No, it doesn't. It IS different from anything I've written, and has more of a tone that Panther and the Pyramid and Cobra and the Concubine had.

Enough, enough. It's FINISHED. Ta, book! Now at last I can take a small break. Maybe I'll just collapse on the sofa and zzzzzzzzzzzzzz for a while...

What I've been doing all week

This is a photo one of our guys shot in Jamaica, right after Hurricane Dean hit. This woman lost everything, and huddled in her home as it blew apart around her. I've been in the office all week, writing materials to raise money to rebuild homes and help hurricane victims recover.

Tomorrow it's romance writing. The book is due next week and it's not done. Yet. It's tough to go from writing about people losing their homes to Egyptian romances.

It's even tougher for those we help who have lost everything and have to start over from scratch...

Hump Day Hunk

Today's weather forecast is ...

wet. Thanks to Kathy for the pix! And seriously, it is supposed to rain today. A lot.

A calm ocean here...

We're in Melbourne for the weekend; had a free room at the Hilton and it's DH's birthday. Here's the view from our room...

It's very quiet and peaceful here. I'm so thankful we're out of Hurricane Dean's path, but I keep thinking about Jamaica and Haiti, though. Jamaica is going to take a direct hit, unless some miracle happens. And the storm will be a cat. 5 when it hits.

Loss of life, huge property damage.

I hope our guys who were supposed to head down there this morning are going to be okay. I just read that the Hilton is taking all the guests and putting them into the ballroom for safety.

I keep thinking about all the projects we have there on the island, and our huge warehouse, and all the people... and the storm surge... the flooding will be horrible.

By tomorrow we'll know for sure. It's very odd to sit here, look at how peaceful and calm the ocean is and know that far south of me, it's a far different story.

Hurricane Dean

I'm really worried about the islands where we work. Dean is now a cat. 2, may be a cat 4 when it brushes the DR and Haiti and Jamaica may take a direct hit. We're sending a team down to Jamaica tomorrow to be on the island Sunday when it hits. We'll be standing by to send emergency relief supplies like food, water, etc.

Hopefully the island won't get a direct hit, but it doesn't look so good right now.

I have this horrible feeling it will be bad. Very bad. Any time a hurricane even brushes Haiti, there are floods and mudslides. People die. A lot of people may die from this one, in Haiti and Jamaica. I hope I'm wrong. It's very weird because I'm so damned relieved we're not getting it here here in S. Florida and yet I'm watching the news with this same terrible sinking feeling I had when Katrina passed us and slammed into New Orleans. Like watching a slow moving disaster in the works.

For now, all I can do is sit, watch, wait. And pray. I hope it won't be bad.





But I have that sinking feeling it will be. Very very bad.

Hump day hunk

My good friend Linda Broday is part of a new author blog called Petticoats and Pistols. Go check it out here.

Linda has a new book out next year with Kensingston in an anthology with Jodi Thomas called GIVE ME A TEXAN. It's a Western. Yee Haw. Save a horse, ride a cowboy.

Florida needs a giant condom

Tropical Storm Dean is now official. In five days, it's predicted to turn into a cat. 3 hurricane and the latest projections, though there is plenty of room for error, say Florida may be a target.

Oh joy.

Here we go, again. I have two weeks to finish this Dorchester historical and they say we might get a hurricane? A big weally weally BIG one?

I'm sick and tired of hurricanes. After Wilma in 2005 dumped a tree on our house and caused lots of damage, I decided I've had enough. We have the brightest and best minds in science in this country, so why can't we invent something that keeps them away from my state?

Face it, Florida sticks out into the Atlantic and the Gulf like a giant, well, penis. South Florida, where I live, is the tip and Tallahassee is the balls. Considering what politicians do in Tallahassee, they do have plenty of ... balls.

It's like the whole damn state is dangling out there like manly parts, taunting hurricanes from August to October, the busy season, saying, "HERE I AM, WITH MY BIG GIANT MAN FLESH, COME AND GET ME!"

But hurricanes transmit the deadly STD. Storm Transmitted Disaster.

Now, using the analogy of sex, if Florida is a giant dick, then what do you need to protect a giant dick from an STD?

Why a giant condom, of course.

I suggest scientists invent a giant condom to wrap around the state of Florida for hurricane season. Magnum sized.

Maybe then I can chill during hurricane season.

Today's post is over at

Unusual Historicals, and it's on What Inspires you?

http://unusualhistoricals.blogspot.com/

Burn Notice

They're filming today on the 14th Street causeway, where DH and I crossed over last night to eat dinner at a bar on the beach we like. They're going to blow something up. Cool. Wish I could go there and watch, but I have a book due. Last night was wonderful. We ate dinner and went for a walk on the beach. The water was deightfully warm, lapping at our ankles and the breeze was refreshing. It wasn't even hot.

Burn Notice is my new favorite show. It's great seeing the S. Florida scenery looking resplendent. I can pick out various settings and places.

Next month I'm going to Jamaica and a very violent slum. There was a church caretaker murdered there a few days ago. Who knows why. It's too dangerous to go there now because of elections, which means all the gangs are out in full force. I'm going there to interview a priest about how we're helping him try to change the area by building homes for poor families. Hopefully things will be calm by then, but at least I'll have turned in the Dorchester book so if I get shot, I don't have to worry about that deadline.

I can see it now, me in the slum yelling at the gunmen, "Don't shoot me! I'm on deadline." Priorities, you know.

Today's thought

Now that I'm done with typesets for the Dec. werewolf Nocturne...

Pa janm palé lougarou mal dévan moun.

Almost forgot. hump day HUNK

My bad.

I'm so absent-minded lately. I had to leave Thomas in bed with Jasmine, suspended on a moment of coital bliss in Egypt, for the proposal due in 1.5 weeks, then today what arrived? Page proofs for the Dec. Nocturne. It's fun seeing the different editing styles. It's great working for two publishers.

Got some great news I can't share yet, but hopefully I'll be able to announce it soon. :-)

Okay, back to work. Enjoy the view!

Blogging

“When we got to Guillermo it was too late. His body could not fight anymore. Guillermo fought until the last second and kept saying that he did not want to leave his little brother. The last word from Guillermo’s mouth was his little brother’s name. Guillermo was holding a teddy bear until the moment he died. What we experienced in the last minutes of his life is something that I hope we will never have to go through again. Tears rolled down his face at the end. All we have now is an empty bed and his memories.” Missionary I know talking about the death of a six-year-old child from starvation

I wrote about this today and it’s pretty damn depressing, but at least I can try to make a difference. I have a photo of this kid on my desk to remind me what’s really important in life to me. When a child perishes every 5 seconds in the world from hunger, it puts everything into perspective for me.

In other news, I’m turning to the dark side; my writing. I have serious deadlines to meet and I’m a serious deadline person. So I’m not blogging for a while, except for my monthly post on Unusual Historicals. I will be posting an excerpt of my December Nocturne on my website as soon as I get through these deadlines.

On a lighter note, a reader emailed me yesterday that she found The Falcon & the Dove for $3 at half.com. Yay! So if you’re searching for that book, don’t give up. The book is due to go back to print, but I haven’t a date yet. I love used bookstores. And I don’t care if that’s politically incorrect for an author, I just love ‘em. When a reader who wants to read a book can finally find it and not have to pay a ridiculous price, I say here’s to the UBS!

What’s important to me:

The work I do in the Third World.
My writing.
Reading.
DH
And rum runners.

‘Nuff said.