Award Winning!

EXCITING NEWS!

This morning the CataNetwork review site announced their Reviewers' Choice Awards for the best books of 2008.

Of the hundreds of books they reviewed last year, they selected THE WILD SIGHT as one of the eleven best single titles of the year! (Click on the title of this post to see the list of all the winners.)

Single Titles did give me a wonderful review back in Sept. but this award was TOTALLY OUT OF THE BLUE! And that makes it doubly sweet!

Now excuse me while I go back to my Snoopy Happy Dancing!

Bandita Invasion!

This week the 19 other Romance Bandits and I have been invited to blog over at Romance Novel TV. (just click on the title of this post to go there)

We are doing a fun exercise where every day four Banditas each write a short vignette to go with one picture. We then ask for readers to supply the next line of the story. We're giving away lots of prizes every day for the best lines.

Today (Tues. the 27th) is my turn. I'm appearing with contemporary debut author Susan Sey, and historical writers Joan Kayse and Christine Wells. We've had a lot of fun picking our picture, called "Girl In A Cage" and we all took a very different slant with our vignettes.

Later this week (the 29th and 30th) we are holding a contest on the Casablanca Authors blog. If you are an aspiring writer, be SURE to check it out! (http://www.casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/)

Ephesus

I have a post up on Romance Bandits today that has info and a couple of pictures of the Library of Celsius in Ephesus. (Just click on the title of this post to check it out.)

Yes, those are pictures I took during our recent tour of Turkey and since I promised to post more, here are a couple more of Ephesus:

This is the amphitheater. During the height of the Roman city (Ephesus was originally founded by the Greeks) it held 80,000 people! Yes, you read that right. The city had over 250,000 inhabitants in 135 A.D.

And no, St. Paul never preached in this theater. He was scheduled to, but decided that would not be a politically wise move, and fled the city instead. However Sting once performed here in the 1990s!

This is an elaborate fountain.
The Romans who lived in Ephesus were big on fountains and this is one of several on the main thoroughfare of the city.

I *think* this one is dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian (the guy who built the wall between England and Scotland in 110 AD) but I might be wrong. But I know for sure it is not the one dedicated to Trajan, because I have another picture of that one and it is more squared. I liked the arch on this one.

That's it for now. I've been trying for an hour to upload more but my computer hates me today.

Fearless?!?

I haven't done a Meme in awhile, so I took this little quiz (click on the title of this blog post if you want to take it too) to find "My Word" and share the results. Be prepared to laugh, coz here it is...
You see life as your one chance to experience everything, and you just go for it! You believe the biggest risk is being afraid and missing out on something amazing.

Sometimes your fearlessness means you're daring. You enjoy risky activities. And sometimes your fearlessness means you're courageous. You're brave enough to do the right thing, even when it's scary.

Please forgive my uncontrolled outburst of hilarity. I happen to know that I am one HUGE 'Fraidy Cat! Truly about the farthest from fearless I can imagine.

Daring? Moi? HARDLY!

Enjoy risky ativities? Not in this lifetime! Unless, of course, risky activities include eating chocolate and writing about hunky heroes...

Oh, and travel, but honestly, I don't consider the places I go to be risky. If I did, I wouldn't go!

But back to writing about those hunky heroes, and spunky heroines... I'm currently revising my next release, and the heroine has just risked her life to save the hero. This is what I love about reading and writing romantic suspense. The characters ARE fearless!

That doesn't mean they aren't afraid. My heroine Samantha was plenty scared -- the wet palms, pumping heart, almost can't breathe variety. But as that last sentence under Fearless says, she was "brave enough to do the right thing, even when it's scary."

I always admire that, at least in fiction, and I'd like to think I could do it too. If I had to be, I would be fear...
Sorry, I can't even imagine that with a straight face!

Good-Bye 2008

The first week of a NEW YEAR!

And just like I do every year, I've been looking back over the year that just passed, seeing where I've been, what I've done, where I'm going... Hmmm, I guess waxing a bit philosophical comes with the territory at the start of a new year.

One year ago today, I launched my website (www.LoucindaMcgary.com)! Since then, I've had several thousand visitors from all over the world. I've also received a few "fan emails" from the contact page on the website and those always thrill and excite me.

This time last year, I was fretting over my first release which had NO title, NO cover, and NO release date! Well, in spite of all my fussing and fuming, those things happened in due time, and eventually, I saw the fulfillment of my BIGGEST DREAM!

MY FIRST BOOK APPEARED ON BOOKSTORE SHELVES!

There really is nothing else to quite compare, although in November I had something come pretty close: My publisher offered me a contract for TWO MORE BOOKS!

After all these years of trying and dreaming, I feel like in 2008 I finally arrived. I am an AUTHOR!

So much for what I did in 2008. Where am I going in 2009? Honestly, I want to do more of the same: keep writing and selling books! I learned a lot about writing, publishing and promotion in 2008, and I know I still have a lot to learn.

Writing and publishing can be a difficult, frustrating, and sometimes disappointing process, truly a journey and not a destination. While I'm happy to be making this journey, I do think I'm being a bit more realistic about it in 2009 than I have been in the past.

Care to share your memories of 2008 and plans for 2009 with me?