Heaven

The company I work for has these online auctions a couple of times a year to support specific charities and a few years ago one of the items up for auction was a massage. Since I love massages, I decided that I would place a bid on one - and I won. The place where I had to go to get the massage was across town but I figured that since it was for a good cause, I could deal with the long drive to and from the facility, right?

Well, I got the massage the Friday before Thanksgiving. I remember this because I was annoyed that the radio stations were already playing Christmas music. So, on my drive to get the massage, I was changing the radio stations quite a bit.

On the way home, not only was I listening to the Christmas music, I was singing along to the music. That's how good the massage was. And despite the fact that I have to drive across town, I haven't been to another massage therapist since.

That was several years ago and while I don't go nearly often enough, when I called earlier in the week to schedule an appointment, she thought it would be okay for me to come to her house to get the massage.

So, I drove out to her house this morning and as I drove through the neighborhood I calculated the houses to be about the same age as the houses in my neighborhood. Then I get to her street, all of the houses but one seem to fit the rest of the neighborhood. Yep, you guessed it, her house seemed a bit out of place because it was so nice.

Anyway, I pulled up in the driveway and walked up to the front door and I absolutely loved the way it was set up. She had a little wicker seat set up for her clients to sit on while they waited. On the table was this wonderfully smelling candle burning (I forgot to check or ask what kind it was). In the window is a sign that says "QUIET Massage in session".



Then, over in the corner was a cute little fountain for the calming waterfall effect.


It's all covered and seemed so perfect for her situation. I asked if they'd added that part of the porch on and she said that it was that way when they bought it. How cool is that?

And in other news, I figured out how to email myself pictures I've taken on my cell phone. It probably costs an arm and a leg, since that's not part of my program, but you know, I'm too relaxed to care at the moment. :)

Back in the Saddle Again

For some unknown reason I tend to get crushes on the most inappropriate men. Last year it was a married man. This year it's someone who is, quite literally, half my age. Aside from the fact there are just some things he may want to experience that I may not be able or want to, knowing that I had been married two years when he was born provides enough of an ick factor for me that I'm trying to divert my attention - much like I did last year - again.

Which is why I joined another online dating service a few weeks ago. I think it's a newer one and I don't know of anyone who has previously used this service. But, it's associated with a known service (that I had eliminated as a possible service I would use) that others I know have used - and loved.

Can someone please explain to me why I keep doing this to myself because I just don't get it. I also don't get some of the guys on there.

Like the one that says he has an "athletic/toned" body with pictures that show a beer gut plain as day.

Or the one whose picture is taken of him from the bridge of his nose up. Yes, there are other pictures of him in the profile but seriously, why include that one?

Then there's the one that says "I'm 55 but don't look it". Um, you're right, you don't...you look much, much older than that sorry to say.

There was one who "channeled" his deceased mother for the profile saying something like "I never know what to say on these profiles so I thought I'd 'interview' my mother for this one." And then proceeds to "ask" his mother questions and have her answer them - about him. I thought it was a little strange but decided to look at it as creative and humorous and I communicated with him for a little while. He became obsessive about communicating offline and pictures. So, when I sent him a link to see a picture of me, he closed the communication because he was suddenly "pursuing another relationship". Should've followed my first instinct on that one.

And in a "drapes don't match the carpet" kind of way, one listed himself as having red hair. Now, I guess you just have to take that on faith because, while I didn't see his "carpet", the man had no drapes, so to speak. Dude, you're bald! If you don't want people to know that up front, then don't post your picture!

Of course I still get the geographically undesirable matches with people in other states. The service has a drop down list of reasons you're closing a match, which they say they will use to better match you in the future. But let's start with the fact that I have that my matches must be within 25 miles (the shortest distance allowed on the site) and they're matching me with people in Louisiana - again. I marked "physical distance is too great" (120 miles away) as the reason I was closing the match. So what do they do? They match me with someone in Fort Worth, Texas because, I guess they think if they keep it in the state of Texas it's acceptable? Uh, excuse me but Fort Worth is roughly 285 miles away. If Lake Charles is too far away, why would Fort Worth be acceptable?

And lastly, there was a match with someone I think I know...again. I can't quite place him but I'm pretty sure I know him from somewhere else. I mentioned this to him and he said it could be from another site. I looked at the site he mentioned and I'm pretty sure that's not it. So, it's got me to thinking that the people they're thinking are the best matches for me are people I rejected in my past. And if I rejected them in the past, why would I want to be matched up with them now?

But the good news is, it's working at getting my mind off my totally inappropriate crush (heretofore to be known as TIC).

Spotlight on...Amanda Ashby

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a huge fan of Amanda Ashby's. I absolutely loved her debut novel, You Had Me at Halo and have been anxiously waiting for the release of her latest book, Zombie Queen of Newbury High ever since.

I met her last summer when she made her first trip to the United States so that we could vacation together. (What? We were both in San Fransisco and it was my vacation!)

Anyway, Zombie Queen of Newbury High will be out in two days (March 5!!! I can't wait!!!). And in honor of that, Amanda has been having a party on her blog. She's had some great guests and some great giveaways and it's still going on. So, if you haven't already, stop by and say hello and who knows, maybe you'll will one of the great giveaways. :)

In the meantime, Amanda agreed to answer some questions for me and I have to say, I've read a few of her interviews lately and I've yet to read one that she didn't manage to work David Boreanaz into it...including this one. :)

With that, here she is...

Tell us about your story.
ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH is the story of what happens when seventeen-year-old Mia Everett does a love spell on her date to help convince him not to dump her four days before prom. Instead, as these things are wont to do, instead of casting a love spell, she actually casts an ancient thing called Viral Zombaticus, or in another words, a zombie virus. Whoops. Even worse, because she was the one who did the spell, she is now the zombie queen – which isn’t a good thing – it just means that she’s at the top of the menu. And so she’s forced to work with zombie hunter hottie, Chase Miller to try and find a cure before her classmates and teachers all turn into the living dead and she gets turned into an all-you-can-eat buffet!

What's a typical day like for you?
I have two young children so the mornings are spent finding homework and getting them ready for school. Then I go for a quick jog and back home to the computer. I normally spend an hour doing essential Internet stuff like reading www.pinkisthenewblog.com before I get to work on my wip. Then I go and get the kids from school and don’t normally get back to the computer until about eight at night where I will either edit what I’ve written or catch up on any other things that need to be done. Well, in theory in anyway!!!!

How long have you been writing? How many books did you write before you sold?
I started seriously writing in 1999 and wrote about 13 completed manuscripts before finally selling my debut book YOU HAD ME AT HALO back in 2005. It then took another two years for it to hit the shelves and I spent that time working on my young adult projects. So as you can see I had a long apprenticeship but every thing I wrote helped lead me to where am I today so I can’t regret it any of it (okay, I can totally regret some of the Mills and Boons attempts I made because they were dreadful and I pity the poor editor who had to read them!)

What was it like getting "the call"? Who was the first person you told?
My call was actually an email from my agent! I was in the UK and she was in NY so it came through at about 8pm at night and basically she forwarded on the publishers offer (along with a few smiley faces and exclamation marks!). I actually went into complete and utter shock and I’m not sure how long it took before I called my husband in to show him. Then I spoke to my cps on the phone and then I started emailing my family a few hours later. I can honestly say that it was the most surreal moment of my life to have such a long held dream suddenly turned into reality!!!!

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Of course there are all the standard pieces of advice like write lots, read lots etc. But I was actually talking to an aspiring writer on the weekend and one thing really stood out for me – that she had never sent anything out to a publisher or an agent. Huh? That makes no sense to me because if you don’t put stuff out there, then you will never be able to achieve your goals, so really my best advice is to submit, submit, submit.

Where do you get your story ideas? What inspires you?
I wish I knew! Often I just stumble across things that resonate with me. I’ve talked a lot about how my debut book was inspired by an imaginary conversation I had with my dead father on the day of his funeral. Obviously at the time the funeral wasn’t funny, but the idea of my dad being there and commenting on it all did amuse me and that was the basis of the story. With ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH the idea actually came about because I think the word zombie is hilarious and I used to joke about writing a sort of B-grade zombie slasher story (I Was a Killer Zombie Bride). Anyway, even though I was joking, the idea of doing a zombie book just stuck. Another thing that often happens to me is that I see a traditional storyline and then I have fun trying to twist it and turn it around to see what I can come up with.


How much of a role did contests play in your quest for publication?
Not much. After my daughter was born (eight years ago now – ack!), I entered a competition with the RWNZ (Romance Writers of New Zealand) and I actually won. Then I entered another competition and I didn’t win – which, as I soon discovered, wasn’t nearly so much fun! At that point I decided the feedback I wanted wasn’t from contest judges but from editors and agents and that’s why I concentrated more on submitting stuff than entering contests. Of course I’m not saying that it would work for everyone, but it’s definitely what I felt more comfortable with.

What do you wish you'd known before you reached where you are now - and would it have made a difference in the steps you've taken to get there?
That just because you sell a book, you don’t automatically get to meet David Boreanaz. That was a major blow to me! But all joking aside, even though my published friends had told me that it actually gets harder once you sell, I absolutely did not believe them (after all, they’re fiction writers so they make stuff up all the time, right?). Unfortunately, this time they weren’t making it up and everything about my writing has become harder since I sold. However, I really think it’s one of those things you just have to learn as you because there isn’t really anything you can do to prepare yourself for it. Darn because I’m a big fan of do-over days!

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Panster. With a capital panster. I try to plot, I really, really do and while I do have a loose outline of what might happen, about 90% of it is up in the air until I actually get there. Even then, I more often than not have to rewrite scenes over and over again until I can finally find the right one. It’s an exhausting process but despite all my best efforts, I’ve never quite managed to change it.


What's it like to write in two different genres? How do you transition between the two?
This is where I have to confess that there is no difference at all! Though in my defense, my first book actually started life as a young adult book and the publisher asked me to turn it into women’s fiction, so I think my voice naturally lies down the younger end of the scale. Also, while I love having romance in my stories I don’t tend to ever turn up the heat. In fact half the time the poor things don’t get much more than a kiss at the end!!!



You can visit Amanda at her website - and who knows, if you send her an email, maybe she'll vacation with you next year. It worked for me. ;)

And then there were two

Have you been watching the Bachelor this season? Last season's cast off, Jason Mesnick, is this season's bachelor. He's the single father who won everyone's - except Deanna's - heart last year. He's back to find the woman of his dreams.

Now, I have to remind you all that I'd never watched the Bachelor before Deanna's season. I saw the last five minutes of her season when she was rejected by Brad and this was how (and why) my friend was able to convince me to watch the Bachelorette.

And, although Jason was an early favorite of mine last season, he lost some points by being reluctant to mention his child to Deanna. I mean, Ty is supposedly the most important thing in the world to Jason but he let her potential negative reaction keep him from mentioning it for several weeks. That was a problem for me. I mean, I still liked him a lot and thought he deserved to be in the final two but it weighed heavily enough that I was a Jesse girl. In the end, Deanna was too - well, at least for the public, she's since given up on him.

Anyway, I liked Jason enough that I was willing to spend another season watching him try to find true love. On the first night I sent an email to my good friend (the one who got me to watch) and told her what my initial reaction was to the ladies, just from their meeting Jason outside the limo. I said I thought Shelby would be the winner. And for those of you wondering who the heck Shelby is, she was eliminated that first night. Goes to show what I know. lol

I did, however, send a second email that evening, after the rose ceremony, telling my friend who I thought would be in the top three. I said, Melissa (score!), Megan (really? I liked Megan? Well, at least I'm over it now!) and the "Brazilian girl" (Raquel, I think). Okay, so I'm not that great at predicting - at least I'm not charging for this, right?


Well, tomorrow is the finale and we find out who he selected. There's been talk and rumors about it but no one really knows. I've saved all the shows because I had planned to go back when it was all over and see if I could see the real thing developing - or if they deliberately edited to mislead. My friend knows this and has asked me a couple of times to go back and look at things.

So, here are some things that I've discovered to have been misleading...

My friend wanted me to go back and look at the previews and see who all was still there when Deanna showed up. Well, they showed the ladies at the pool saying "where is she?" and the like and looking up - as if they were looking into the window where Deanna and Jason were. They showed Shannon saying "I cried over Deanna" (or something to that effect). She has been gone a couple of weeks and Deanna hasn't shown up yet...she was talking about the previous season.

You see the hands of whoever Jason proposes to...they have what appears to be a french manicure. She also has on a pinky ring. I saw a youtube thing that someone posted after the first night and he was predicting Melissa as the winner because of the pinky ring. Also, at the last rose ceremony, Molly had on red nail polish and Melissa had, what appeared to be, a french manicure. Seems like a lock, right?

Well, on The Women Tell All edition last week, they showed more previews for the final show. It shows Molly giving herself a french manicure and wearing a pinky ring. So, I'm back to square one and have no idea who he's going with.

I have, however, seen Jason on interviews. This past week he was on the View and they said the rumor was that he proposed to Melissa and immediately regretted it and that that has something to do with him hanging over the balcony crying his eyes out. He neither confirmed or denied the rumor.

They've said the after the final rose episode is done without an audience, due to the potential drama. Someone pointed out that it could be that they didn't want to traumatize Ty, who would probably be there. That makes sense so I'm going on that assumption at the moment.

But as for the final two, I'm still rooting for Melissa. I think she is the most genuine and seems to be the best fit for Ty. She's sweet and pretty. I'm just hoping that her family's lack of participation didn't hurt her.

As for Molly, there's something about her I don't like. She doesn't seem to be genuine to me. She seems in it to win it, rather than to be truly falling in love. She also seemed, to me, to be trying to undermine the others' confidence. She came back from a date with Jason and said that Natalie had named names of trouble makers. Not only did he not say that, Natalie hadn't named names so she created some drama for some unknown reason. She also made a point of letting everyone know she spent the night with Jason and "got very little sleep" leading people to believe they'd slept together when, if you believe Jason, they didn't (and considering he refuses to discuss whether or not he slept with them on the overnight dates, I believe him on that). I will be very disappointed if Jason goes with Molly. In fact, I don't think I'll watch again if he does...Well...until next season anyway. ;)

What about you? Are you watching this season? Who do you think Jason should/will pick - and why?

Inquiring minds want to know.