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ALL I WANT FOR HALLOWEEN by Marie Harte

The pumpkins have lost their toothy grins and scary faces. It’s time to get on to the next holiday—Thanksgiving. But do you know how the holiday came to be? I doubt few people do. So here’s some Facts: Although President George Washington set a day aside to give thanks and prayers, it wasn’t made official and the leaders who came after him nixed the idea due to their interpretation of the separation of church and state. In 1846, Sarah Hale who was the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, began a letter-writing campaign in favor of making the last Thursday in November National Thanksgiving Day. The idea gained favor and President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation making it happen. However, following presidents changed the day to various ones they favored. Can you imagine the confusion that led to? It was pretty bad. It wasn’t until 1941 that legislation was introduced in Congress to firmly establish the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day and it ...

It's that time again. I'm seeing Christmas trees in my Facebook feed. It seems that a lot of people who have a tree put it up on or right after Thanksgiving. I'm not ready! Oh, Christmas Tree... I don't shop on Black Friday (or Thanksgiving). I don't decorate until the spirit moves me. I have to read a few Christmas romances to get in the mood. Watch a few Christmas shows and specials. Feel that nip in the New England air. Smell some fir trees. Then maybe.  Trying to get in the mood.  My first Christmas Romance http://amzn.to/1XBfNAr Features an Edwardian Christmas Celebration http://amzn.to/1IsDgNf Maybe by December 15th, and then I'll have to rush to get it all done before my son comes home from college and my daughter comes to visit with her boyfriend. The tree. The stockings hung by the chimney with care. The presents. Yeah, it will get done. It will all get done. In time. Are you decorated? Do you go all out or just a few decorations? ...

In August I had an excellent holiday in New Zealand (I also attended the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference). As an Australian New Zealand is like some kind of haven from creatures that want to kill you (everything in Australia wants to kill you from the smallest tick to the largest croc). It’s spoken about in hallowed tones. a bubbling mud pool Imagine a place with no poisonous snakes or spiders where it rains gumdrops and snows marshmallows (maybe not the gumdrop and marshmallows…). Then I went to Auckland zoo and read about the wasp problem. So while you can research a place on the internet nothing beats going there in person. Here are a few things that also weren't in the brochures. Rotorua smells. Famous for its hot springs and spas nowhere was the rotten egg smell mentioned. It seeped into the hotel room and clung to the car like day old fart even after we’d left. But the museum and history were fascinating and it is well worth a visit, but be prepared. ...

At the moment I’m in New Zealand. It’s probably really cold…actually I know it will be really cold as I’m going to spend a few days skiing which I’ve never done before. I think you’ve guessed that I pre-wrote this blog and scheduled it before I went on holiday, I promise there will be pics next month.  In the lead up to going on holiday I made a detailed schedule of all the things I needed to get done before we went away. I had Annwyn #4 1st draft to finish the next ES Siren to polish and the next In A Bottle story to get to my editor. I did have several other jobs pencilled in but it quickly became apparent they weren’t going to happen. I don’t write on holiday, but I do plot. So I packed an idea for the last In a Bottle story (there are only so many ways to free a genie…you can check out 2 in Boyfriend in a Bottle and Temptation in a Bottle ) The other thing I had to do was get new puzzle/coloring in books and reading books for the kids. Youngest is a fussy reader, but ...

I was surprised when I was a Girl Scout Troop Leader and my troop didn't know the meaning of the 4th of July. So we did a study unit on what it was all about. Then years later when my son was in college, taking a first year American history class, the teacher was mentioning Independence Day and one girl raised her hand and said, "Cool that it happened on a holiday." This was foooor real. Really. Truly. Real. I would have felt sorry for her had I been there, except that it's really sad. Really. Seriously. What are we teaching our kids anyway? Okay, so it's also really, really funny. Too. Hey, I don't need to make up stories. It's all just...out there. Back to writing! What? You think I'm off to celebrate?? I am, when I write. :) Oh, and take pictures. This is a baby bunny. Isn't he adorable? I scared him when I was watering. And a dragonfly on a pyracantha that was blowing hard in the wind, and the dragonfly was flapping his ...

by Danielle J. Dresser  I love books (why do you think I’m in publishing). I love quotations (I once asked for a Bartlett’s Book of Quotations for Christmas, and my mother—who has multiple degrees and reads more than I do—told me I was a nerd). So it should be no surprise that I love quotations that are about books and reading. Here are some I’ve collected over the years—I hope you enjoy them! “There is no such thing as a moral book or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.” — Oscar Wilde “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” - Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood “I am simply a ‘book drunkard.’ Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee. I cannot withstand them.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient ...

I love writing novels as it gives me a chance to dig deep into the characters and build complex paranormal and fantasy worlds…however sometimes after doing a pile of edits there is nothing better than slipping into a short and spicy novella. It’s like taking a short weekend break, only with writing.  Here are my three reasons I like to take a writing holiday:  1. I get to go to a totally new world. Just a like a real holiday a change of location is very important for that feeling of getting away from it all. What could be more different from goblins, curses and the awful Shadowlands ? Rock star vampires of course :) 2. Meeting new people…er characters I know it’s a hard job but finding the right picture for the new hero has to be done. And while I’m doing that I contemplate who the perfect heroine would be and then work out how to make them suffer before they get a HEA—just the plotting part is a fun afternoon of pictures, paper and chocolate (it’s a holiday so the calo...

For the past three weeks I’ve been travelling with my husband and two kids. It’s the first big holiday we’ve ever had, and it’s been amazing. Disneyland Hong Kong We started in Hong Kong Disneyland for the kids, but since neither hubby nor me had ever been to Disney it was fun for all of us. The youngest loved the teacups, again and again and again, while the eldest discovered the thrill of rollercoasters. yellow flowers in Death Valley After that we went to LA and began our tour of the west coast that included San Diego Seaworld, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley and San Francisco. The flight over the Grand Canyon was spectacular (my credit card bill will be waiting when I get home). And we were lucky enough to see flowers in Death Valley which I’m told is pretty rare. This week I’m in Chicago for the RT Convention before heading off to NY and then Niagara and home via Dubai. Grand Canyon from the helicopter All those different climates, and di...

by Tamara Hogan  Weasel lends a helping (?) hand  Christmas. It's a time to get together with friends and family, to catch up, to chat, to exchange presents...and of course eat too much. Home for the holidays. It resonates, doesn't it? Mr. K waits for his turn  In my family, we tend to gather at the home of my youngest sister, the only one of us to have produced a grandchild - a dear girl named Taylor that we all adore and shamefully overindulge during the holidays. In addition to my sister's home being centrally located, the house has a huge family room equipped with a fireplace, with enough room for everyone to sit comfortably for hours. Because we will be sitting there for hours. We open our gifts in rotation, from youngest to oldest, one gift at a time, cycling through everyone until all the gifts are open. Though my niece finds this approach excruciating, there are several be...

by Sharon Lathan Indeed, this is the most wonderful time of the year! I adore Christmas. It is my absolute favorite holiday for a host of reasons. The entire period from Thanksgiving through New Years is always a treasured time for me and I relish every crazed moment of it. This year the excitement of the season is increased by the upcoming release of my third novel – My Dearest Mr. Darcy . Of course that also adds to the workload, and both my well-laid plans and delight were dimmed slightly by the killer mutant flu from Hades that knocked me flat for 2 solid weeks. Nevertheless I managed to get most everything done before Christmas and I stayed in the holiday spirit! Our highlight and big family gift was a trip to Disneyland! I wrote about this on my Dec.16 blog , extolling our enthusiasm to see the Magic Kingdom all decked out for the holidays, and talking about our planned adventures. Every last moment was as magical and special as we anticipated. Dinner at the Blue Bayou was phenom...

The holidays are coming, the holidays are coming! Um… yay ? The moment Halloween ends, we get inundated with Christmas. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. I love December. I love the whole deck-the-halls thing. Peace and goodwill. December, for all the holiday-shopping craziness, always seems like a “soft” month to me: mittens and scarves, hugs, warm hot chocolate, snow… Back in the day, (i.e. the Dark Ages) we used to have snow all winter. I could make snowmen in December. The nights got dark early. It was cold, and we all cuddled up in our down jackets that made us look like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man or the Micheline Man. Remember the plastic bread bags we put over our socks before putting on our boots to go out in the snow—which ensured you’d end up with frostbite from all the sweating your feet did in them. That scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphy can barely walk for all the “huddled up”-ness cracks me up. That was the December of my childhood and I loved i...