Thanksgiving And Wow...I Have A LOT to be Thankful For!

Since about five years ago, Thanksgiving and Christmas just haven't really done it for me. I provide for my kids and try to put on a brave face-but the two holidays had just really lost most of their meaning to me. It wasn't because I was ungrateful or not appreciative. I am very grateful for everything and those I have in my life. It's just been that some events had happened and circumstances that I had just grown really unenthusiastic about them. However, this year I have some things to be excited about! For starters, Cursed Awakening has been picked up by XOXO Publishing and unlike Publish America-they're a reputable company with great people who have added me to their team! I am so excited that I can't even put into words my feelings about it! Another thing I am very happy about is this year we'll be spending part of our Thanksgiving with friends. I also am really Thankful this year for all the great people I've gotten to meet. Some are fellow authors, some are accomplished authors and artists, musicians, and many are just people out there that are truly good people.

I am also Thankful for all my loved ones that I get to spend another year with. A person I have met on a social network was telling me about how this year is not going to be a very good year. This individual has MS and is going to have a rough time making ends meet-harder that usual. Money is very tight and they've exhausted all their resources,yet this person is persevering. I've seen a lot of hard times-I'm no stranger to them as most of us are, but this person really reminded me of what is important. I'm hoping that this person gets some help because they really need it. It's times like this when I wish I had the fortune of Bill Gates, because there are so many I wish I could help!

So when you're feeling down about all those trivial things that seem so big-just remember there is someone out there that maybe could use a hot meal, something warm, or some way to be able to keep their utilities on because of their fixed incomes. Our economy is in a real mess, or at least it is for the United States and there are more and more places throughout the world who are being affected. There are people who don't have homes, who have a child who is sick or a child they've had to say "good-bye" to, people who are missing their loved one who is overseas and can't be home, and 1000 other circumstances that we should be thankful we're not in. So I ask, as you get ready for your holiday meal or your Christmas Shopping-even if it's just something as small as putting some spare change in a Salvation Army bucket, or donating a blanket or clothing, or perhaps just providing a few toys to some needy children for the holidays-I ask that you do it! You'll be a better person because of it and you know what-you'll make someone's bleak holiday just a little brighter!

So if I don't see ya,talk to ya, or blog-Happy Thanksgiving and Season's Greetings!

The Bitter Winter

Faroh is becoming quite the character. I'm writing away for him and I've come to the conclusion-he's a pain in the butt! As I have often times said, I have always had stories running through my head and when I wrote the first book, for what I hope is a very good series that readers of this genre will love, I never thought I would write a character that turns out to be such a pain. Why is he such a pain? Well because he's basically your typical Fred Flintstone. He's an alpha male for sure. One of those, "Me hunt it, me kill it, me eat it, and wear the fur" kind of guy but and I stress BUT here, he's very intelligent(I know,I've written the perfect man and he's fiction)and there is a part of him that is tender underneath all that bravado and attitude. He's the type of guy that goes in, makes difficult decisions when he has to and doesn't regret them, he's a fighter and isn't afraid to get dirty, and he's someone that is constantly on the go because if he stayed anywhere too long he'd go insane.

Faroh's work ethic, I borrowed from my grandpa. My papow had that "Do a job right, and do it until it's done" kind of ethic. The rest of Faroh, I swear I couldn't tell you where I got all his bits and pieces from. Perhaps it was all those early GI Joe cartoons and the 100 times I have watched Braveheart. I was asked, "What makes him different than Alexi, the character from your first book?" Well there are a lot of things different. Alexi was cold in the beginning. He border lined a killer without comparison. He had so much self loathing that it had really taken over his whole life. He thought of nothing but everything he had lost and it had made him more of a killing machine than anything. Faroh is every bit as lethal in Bitter Winter,but he chose his path even though vengeance is still very much apart of him. Alexi's tragedy as a human broke him.

Faroh Maclean's character sprang from my enduring and first love of Highlander Romance stories. I fell in love with Julie Garwood and Lyndsay Sands tales of rugged Highlanders who lived for battle, their people, and had a sense of humor especially when it comes to the women that drive them beyond reason.

Mia Ohlson was created based purely on my love of history and museums. I also have Johanna Lindsey to thank for Mia as well, since many of her books were Viking Romances. I always loved her heroins more than I loved the big muscle bound heroes of her books. I also gave Mia a very complex set of issues she'll work through in Bitter Winter, something that I think many people will be able to follow. For Mia, she's beautiful and smart. Truly a duckling that turned to a swan with a brain but is under appreciated for it by those who should love her regardless but shun her for it. I am lucky because my family supported me, unlike Mia's. How many times have we heard the tale of the poor little rich girl who grows up in privileged yet is still a bird in a gilded cage? I hope you enjoy Mia as much as I had thinking her up! She really does have more than a brain, a pair of legs, and beauty. She is the very type of girl to stand someone like Faroh on his head and make him spin!


So my dedicated readers, friends, and followers-Stay tuned for Guardian of the Bitter Winter, coming soon!

BOYCOTT PUBLISH AMERICA NOW

I hate to say this, but at some point a person has to take a stand against wrong doing. You all know I published my book, Renegade Night with the vanity press Publish America. For the past 2 years I've been fighting to get my contract dissolved with them. I put in so much hard work with my book but I can no longer in good conscience keep promoting my book because of the recent news story covered by the Huffington Press, about Publish America publishing a children's book by a known serial killer. When I read the story it not only made me sick at my stomach, but it also infuriated me. What's next, a romance novel by a rapist or a children's book by a pedophile? This vanity press could care less-so I am asking everyone to please boycott Publish America. I am not asking that you discredit the hundreds of authors who like me, worked so very hard, but our reputations as credible authors hangs in the balance. Publish America shames us all with their lack of doing background checks in their acquisitions. He didn't write a book about his crime or his incarceration. He wrote a children's novel. Serial killers are not just your typical murderer-they're seriously mentally imbalanced. Remember, John Wayne Gacey was a clown that performed at Senior Citizen homes as well as other public functions. So for them to have even taken his manuscript is disturbing. Would you want your child having a book or having access to a children's story written by a Serial Killer? Here is the link to the news story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/01/serial-killer-charles-kembo-book_n_1070290.html