More Piccies

A couple are from the cruise and a couple are from my recent booksigning!

First we find Aunty posing like one of the sculptures in a plaza in La Paz. Unlike the sculptures, Aunty did not have sea shells replacing any part of her anatomy -- Thank Goodness!


This next piccie was taken by the DH, and when I tell you the time you'll know why HE was the one with the camera.

This is a shot of the El Faro lighthouse which sits atop an island at the entrance to the harbor in Mazatlan. If you strain your eyes, you can just make it out there on the tippy top.

This picture was taken slightly after sunrise. 'Nuff said.

Finally, here is Aunty wearing the special 'light up' tiara that my critique partner Cathy D. gave me. This was at my Oct. 3rd booksigning at a local Borders store in Roseville, CA with four other local romance authors: Donna Del Oro, Dee Brice, Joan Beth Ericson, and Jeannie Reusch .

We had a great time and sold a fair amount of books!

Piccies!

I've promised a few of the cruise so here they are:

First up, here's a piccie of our ship, the Sun. I loved the painting on the side, and see how nicely the DH color coordinated with it!

This was taken in our first port of call, Topolobampo. Yes, it was 110 degrees (over 40 Celsius). So WHY THE HECK is the DH wearing a long sleeved shirt?!?! This is one of those shirts especially designed to block UV rays. The DH owns several and wears them all the time when outdoors.

Meanwhile, here's Aunty in a far cooler environment--inside our cabin, where the thermostat remained set just slightly above 'Arctic Tundra." Our wonderful room steward left several cute little towel animals for us. My favorite was this little elephant.

And finally, since the only things in the tiny port of Topolobampo are some local shrimp boats and a huge gasoline storage facility, the DH and I took a 30 minute jaunt via air conditioned shuttle bus to the city of Los Mochis (it means the turtles). The bus dropped us off and picked us up at a lovely green park near the center of town.

I really LURVE cruising! Haven't had a bad day on one yet. If you want to read a lot more details about this particular cruise, I have a guest blog on Tuesday, Oct. 27th at RazLover's Book blog -- http://razloversbookblog.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, you can tell me what you did on your most recent holiday! Comment away...

Release Date and Blog Topics

YIPEE!

I just received word that my editor LOVED my revisions on my third book, The Wild Irish Sea! This book was a real challenge for me, because it is the first book I've written completely under deadline. I sold it based on the prologue, first chapter, and a truly awful synopsis! LOL! I know I was very fortunate to have my editor "trust me" when I asked her to, and believe me, there were times in the writing of this book that even *I* thought she made a mistake!

But in the end, I met all my deadlines (Aunty wipes residual sweat from her brow). And I really love how the book turned out! I think you will too. The release date for The Wild Irish Sea is July. I'd been told "spring" but apparently July is still in my publisher's spring catalog. (SHRUG) I'm fine with the publication date because it gives my northern hemisphere readers plenty of time to read the book while on vacation. And my southern hemisphere readers can curl up under a warm blanket for a cozy winter read. Actually, the book is set in Ireland in July so maybe that is a sign!

I have my usual blog post on Wednesday (the 21st) at Casablanca Authors (http://www.casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/ ) and am a guest blogger on Thursday at Raz Lover's Book Blog ( http://razloversbookblog.blogspot.com/ ). You would think that after writing several 80,000+ word books that I would have plenty of things to say, but I'm always searching for blog topics that are interesting to my readers.

So please, help yer olde Aunty out and tell me what kinds of things you like to read about in blogs! Do you like hearing about my books and my writing journey? What about personal blogs on my likes/dislikes and the goings on in my life? Are there topics you'd like me to write about? Any you do NOT want to read? PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

Cruising, Revising, and Cave-Dwelling

Hola Amigos!

Sorry I have been so scarce in this little corner of the blog-o-sphere lately. Thanks for waiting so patiently for a new post.

As most of you know, Aunty was off on an eleven day cruise to sunny Mexico. AHEM! More like HOTTER Than HADES, Mexico. But we still had lots of fun, and got to visit two ports (Topolobampo and La Paz) that we'd never been to before. Plus, I'm sure all that sweating I did cleansed my pores as thoroughly as any expensive sauna or steam bath. (Pictures are coming as soon as Aunty finds someplace that still actually processes 35 mm film!)

Unfortunately, the moment the ship docked, I had to crawl off and seclude myself in the deep, dark 'Revision Cave' in order to meet my deadline for my third release, The Wild Irish Sea. That deadline was TODAY, by the way! WHEW! Glad to have that task off my plate.

Meanwhile, The Treasures of Venice continues to receive positive reviews and raves from readers. My most sincere thanks to those of you who have read the book and enjoyed it! If you have a picture of the book on a store shelf, or in your hot little hands, please forward it to me. (here's a shot of TToV--third row down-- in the Barnes & Noble in Fresno, CA)

My favorite reviews are from those who claim they never read "those books." You know, the ones with bare-chested men on the covers! HAHAHAHA! I am hereby making it my writing mission to convert those non-romance readers!

Hasta Luego!