I was on internet radio!

Dindy Robinson, publisher at Swimming Kangaroo books, is the host at an internet radio show on Tuesday nights. At the Swimming Kangaroo Manuscript Critique Club she reads authors' excerpts. I joined in last night with an excerpt from Kiss of Blarney. Michael Charton and Jane Bierce were also on hand. It was so awesome!!

For those of you who missed it, you can download it at:

http://www.internetvoicesradio.com/page/1a0y6/Home.html

The downloads are at the bottom of the page. Last night's show is listed by the date, June 27th.

I had so much fun, I may do it again sometime. :^)

A/C for Dummies

When it comes to cars, I know how to check the oil and I can add some if need be. Since I live in NJ, I never pump gas. I have changed a flat tire. Hubby can do those things, too, but he prefers to use Fix-a-Flat in the event of a flat tire.

Daughter #3 has become more daring when it comes to car repairs--maybe because she has an older car and she's still a student. :^) However, when the air conditioning in her car was no longer cooling her off, she simply bought a can of refrigerant and added it to the air conditioning unit in her car. It looked easy.

So when my Jeep blew hot air at me, I thought hubby and I could try the same fix and maybe save money. We went to Pep Boys and studied the various brands of refrigerant. One had a bright yellow box with a familiar logo. It was an Auto A/C Recharging Kit for Dummies. Yep. That was us. The fact that it cost less than the other kits was the main selling point.

We took it home and studied the instructions. They were scary. It had things like, "...death can occur without warning." Also, "Contact with skin or eyes can cause frostbite."

I thought maybe we should just hand it to Daughter #3 as a gift since she knows how to handle it.

But Hubby is slightly braver than I am. He added it to the car while I hovered about ready to call 911. The entire can was used up in seconds.

I got into the car and found that I now had cool air blowing on me. Awesome! I don't know how long it will last, but it sure was a great fix.

Anyone else use that stuff?

Father's Day Gifts

I sent my Dad a check along with his Father's Day card. He was so delighted with the money and said he was going to use it to buy my mother a dinner out at her favorite restaurant or to buy her a ring that she had hoped for. He is such a great father and always demonstrates by example what love truly is.

Now as for my hubby's Father's Day gift...well, it's difficult to buy him anything. He likes music but he only listens to certain kinds. Basically, any style of music with an accordion in it will do. :^) He likes sheet music for the accordion. Of course, he always would like a bigger and fancier accordion. But things like that are not easy to find. So I go for the practical. For his Father's Day present, I told him I would clean his car--inside and out.

He went outside and dragged out the hose for me.

Doesn't that make your heart go pitter-patter. :^)

So tell me, what is a good gift for your father--or for your husband?

No Paper Copies

One of my best fans is one of our friends from the band. She's a strutter--she dances around wearing outrageous costumes with lots of feathers and sequins. Her husband plays a sax. She has read every single book of mine--usually as soon as the book is available. If the book also come out in print, she buys the print copy as well.

Unfortunately, Irons In The Fire was only available in print for such a short time that she missed out on her chance to order it in paper. Amazon.com claimed to have paper copies, so she ordered one from them. After months of contacting them to see where her order was, they finally informed her that they could not locate a paper copy.

The book is still available as an e-book at:

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/ironsinthefire.htm

It was a nominee for Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award for Best Small Press Paranormal. The review is still available online at:

http://www.romantictimes.com/books_review.php?book=16000

But alas, the publisher is not going to print any more copies. Sigh.

Anyone out there have a paper copy for my friend?

First or Third Person

I intend to work on my Gothic/Historical-style novel this summer. This project is more along the lines of Mary Stewart or Dorothy Eden. I loved those stories when I was younger and for a while, they were very popular. Every book had the big old mansion, the brooding hero, the dark and sinister secrets... And most of them were written in the first person, though not all.

One of my favorites was Ravenscroft by Dorothy Eden. (1963) That is written in third person with only the heroine's viewpoint. In fact, all of the books in that genre were limited to the heroine's point of view. That way it was easy to make the hero appear to be a dastardly villain because nobody ever knew what he was thinking. :^)

Today, many of the chick-lit novels are written in first person, which gives them a certain air of immediacy--I suppose, making them resemble diaries.

Do you enjoy reading books written in first person or third person. Here's one sentence in first person: "When I reached the crest of the hill, I stopped to look down upon the town of Taylor’s Grove. Nothing had changed there in the ten years since I had left." Here's the same sentence in third person: "She reached the crest of the hill and stopped to look down upon the town of Taylor's Grove. Nothing had changed there in the ten years since she had left."

Which would you prefer?

By the Sea

Here's an oyster boat.
Here's hubby enjoying oysters.
We were at the Bay Day festival in Port Norris yesterday. Good music. Good food. We enjoyed a nice boat ride up the river (not on the oyster boat). However, the gnats were annoying. I brought along Skintastic, but the gnats seemed to be able to zero in on any uncovered skin--no matter how small.

On the way home, I discovered another use for Skintastic. A ballpoint pen oozed ink all over my hands and on a small portion of the dashboard of the car. I didn't have anything other than the Skintastic to wipe it off. It worked like a charm.

I don't know if any of my heroines can use that idea...

Trouble on the Patio

During the warmer weather, I like to grill burgers outside and eat them on the picnic table on our patio. This past week, we tried this for the first time this season. However, as we sat down to eat a HUGE bee hovered around me. It continued to plague me all through our supper--nobody else at the table seemed to be the object of this particular bee's ire--only me. I tried the old fly swatter on the bee, but my aim is decidedly poor. I wound up eating most of my supper standing up several feet away from the table.

Everyone decided it was a carpenter bee and that I must have been sitting near its residence since it must have made a tunnel in our picnic table. Hubby came up with a bright idea he had heard about. He intended to spray the bee with paint. He heard that doing so is supposed to make the creature unable to fly. I could just imagine what would happen if my hubby carried out his plan. I envisioned my entire backyard with splotches of various colors of spray paint.

Fortunately, Daughter #2 brought out a can of insecticide and went after the creature. I don't know how successful the hunt was. I am afraid to find out by having another burger meal outside using the picnic table.

Bargain Dress

Here's me and hubby all dressed up and on our way to a wedding. Hubby is wearing the same suit he wore for Easter--but he is wearing a brand new white shirt. Men have it so easy when it comes to putting on fancy duds.

However, I got really lucky with this new dress. I only paid $25 for it! It caught my eye as I was walking through Boscov's one day. It was in a rack of dresses listed at 75% off. I love a bargain!

What was your latest bargain?