We're in the new house...and I'm sick

Really, no kidding. We moved for several days after the movers moved the heavy stuff and yep, I got sick. The whole bit, sneezing, coughing, aching, and just general feeling like crap.

But, both Science Guy and I love the house. :)

I promise to be back sometime this week with more interesting stuff.

Hugs ( and sniffles),
Vicki

I love a great, hot, sexy book to relax to….

And I haven’t had much time to do that lately. What, with family in town last week and part of this week. I love family don’t get me wrong – but it’s like a good cocktail. Too much of a good thing and you’ll pay for it for days.

Then there is Bella (the new kitty). Lord that cat cracks me up, but oh she’s a stinker. We let her run our room before HHB comes to bed. Needless to say, she likes being the center of attention. Hence, no reading time there.

I’m supposed to be writing as well. Okay, so that’s not going so well right now. I shut down to be with family and now have to reacquaint myself with the book and the characters because they aren’t talking to me. I think they want to be the center of attention too. Oh but in saying that, new characters are talking to me. They get no time except to write down the concept.

It’s been told to me that I need to read to be a better writer. Well, hell when am I supposed to do that, I ask?

But I need to do it and I will—if for nothing else then to relax. Which will lead me to the next dilemma—which book to read. If you’ve seen my TBR you’d understand. I’ll be looking for the next hero or two to take my mind off life as I know it.

So what is it you do to relax?

XOXO
LKap

Slow Down

This poem was sent to me by a friend. It's said that the poem was written by a young girl with terminal cancer. Although it has the doctor and hospital's name at the bottom, I'm not sure if it's true or not. But the words are beautiful and I hope you enjoy the moment.

Sometimes life gets so very busy with buying houses, raising kids, working a day job, and yes even writing. For me, I realize that sometimes I just need to slow down and not let everything pass me by in a blur without taking the time to enjoy the beauty of all that's around and in me.

Have you ever watched kids

On a merry-go-round?

Or listened to the rainSlapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last.

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

When you ask How are you?

Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done

Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

Running through your head?

You'd better slow down

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last.

Ever told your child,

We'll do it tomorrow?

And in your haste,

Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die

Cause you never had time To call and say,'Hi'

You'd better slow down.

Don't dance so fast.

Time is short.

The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift....

Thrown away.

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

Dr. Dennis Shields, Professor

Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology

1300 Morris Park Avenue

Bronx , New York 10461

The next few days will be filled with moving into the new house and I'll be without internet for at least one of them. LKap will be here on Thursday and I'll be back hopefully by the weekend.

Hugs,

Vicki

House Update and the Winner of Tap and Gown

First, a quick apology to everyone for not posting the winner this weekend. If you’ve been reading the blog then you know Science Guy and I have bought a house, which means we’re major busy in the packing arena. Fun? Not so much. Moving to our place? Fabulous!

We close on the house tomorrow. Or at least we’re set up to close tomorrow. I’m quickly learning in the world of real estate and banks that can change. Fingers crossed tomorrow will happen since we need to move the moveable that the movers who come on Thursday can’t.

Now to the fun part. The winner of Diana Peterfreund’s last book in the series, Tap and Gown is….

Patricia!!! WhooHoo!!! Please email me at vickilanewrites@yahoo.com with Tap and Gown Winner in the subject line to claim your book. If I don’t hear from you by next Friday, the randomizer will choose another winner.

For those who didn’t win, this is a wonderful series and the link above will take you directly to Borders where you can purchase your own copy. It’s one you’ll want to read more than once.

Hugs,
Vicki

Hair Ramblings…

So as of right now we are a little under a month until RWA Nationals.
Why am I rambling about my hair you ask?
That would be because we’re only a little less than a month away from RWA Nationals, and anyone who knows me, knows I’m a freak about my hair.

Again why the freak out?

Because I went yesterday to get my hair done and my girl is going out on maternity leave this Friday – HOLY CRAP!!!! I have short-ish hair which means in 3 weeks I’ll need it done again. The horror I’m telling you. I’m Freaking Out!!!

Seems every time I find a great stylist something happens: they move (when they’ve lived here their whole life), they get pregnant, or just decide they don’t want to do hair any longer.

Can you feel my pain? Do you have as hard a time as I do finding the perfect hairstylist?

Oh dear what is a girl to do?

Got any of your stories to share? I need company in my misery ;-D

XOXO
LKap

It's Here!!! I'm Happy and Sad

The last book in Diana Peterfreund’s Secret Society series is here. We’ve had the privilege to go along Amy’s journey and now we’re reaching the end.

This past weekend I got to see Diana at our chapter meeting and it was great. She’s a long distance member now and so we don’t see her near often enough. Having a book signing with her there was icing on the cake. And since I like to share when I have cake, I’m giving away a copy of Tap and Gown

Here’s the backcover blurb:
Top secret societies . . . bizarre initiation rites . . . campus love triangles . . . political shenanigans . . . Diana Peterfreund has dazzled readers and critics alike with her Ivy League novels, hailed as “impossible to put down” (Publishers Weekly) and “witty and endearing” (New York Observer). In this final installment, Eli University senior Amy “Bugaboo” Haskel and her fellow Diggers are preparing to face real life in worlds far beyond the hallowed halls of Eli University.

For Amy the countdown to graduation has begun, and suddenly the perfect ending to a perfectly iconoclastic Eli career is slipping from her grasp. Her new boyfriend’s been made an offer he just can’t refuse. Her fellowship applications haven’t even been filed. And the young woman she’s chosen to take her place in Rose & Grave—the country's most powerful and notorious secret society—seems to come complete with a secret life already intact.

Lunging toward the finish line, Amy finds trouble around every corner, from society intrigues and unlikely stalkers to former flames and mandatory science credits. Surely it couldn’t get worse . . . until Initiation Night explodes into a terrifying scene and into a last test of wits for a young woman just trying to make it out of the Ivy League in one piece.

And click here to read an excerpt.

If you already have your copy please do not leave any spoilers in the comments. We can do that later on.

To enter leave a comment about your favorite scene in any of the first three books. You can as many comments as you’d like to be entered. This weekend, the randomizer will choose a winner.

Smiles,
Vicki

L's New Family Member

Let’s just say this has been a rollercoaster of a week. Some good, some bad, some in between.

But the highlight of my week has been the addition of a new family member.
Drum Roll Please….

May I introduce you to Bella…




Isn’t she beautiful, and yes, that is why her name is Bella.

HHB is actually who named her, and is in no way obsessed with Twilight, like Princess and I are – but the name fits don’t you think?

So Thank you to Aunt V who went with me to pick my Bella up after HHB called to let me know he found us a kitty (which by the way wasn't Bella...LOL) and covered my butt yesterday since I was too busy playing with new kitty to write a blog…Muahhhh V !!!

Bella comes to my family because we lost our cat, Polly -- of 14 years, on Monday. To say that I was upset, depressed and just miserable to be around, is an understatement.

HHB knows I’ve NEVER, not had a cat in my life. And it became his personal goal to remedy that. He’s the one that tracked down “Friends of Strays” (Which I recommend HIGHLY), filled out the paperwork and made sure all I had to do was pick out the right kitty for our family (God I love that man)!!!

The two days without a cat was the longest since I was probably four or five years old. Polly was an awesome cat, I saw her being born and had her ever since. She was also a black cat – which I have also always had. But seeing as Bella is gray or rather a blue, I’m breaking tradition, but I think my mojo will be just fine. ;-D

So those that guessed a girl – YAY!!!
I loved all the original names!

Don’t you just love her?!?!?!?!?

A New Family Member

Yep, I'm an aunt again. :) LKap has a new baby. Now I'm not going to spoil her fun and tell you about the baby. I'll let her do that.

But then...yeah, an aunt has bragging rights after that.

So, let's play a game. Until she (L) tells everyone, what do think, boy or girl? And the name, what would you name a boy or a girl. Needs to be unique and of course she may have already named the baby by now since I haven't talked to her since yesterday afternoon.

Smiles,
Vicki

Everything I Need to Know, I Learned From Noah's Ark

So maybe not, but a friend emailed this to me and I thought it holds a lot of truth. And yes, I felt the need to be colorful here. Hey, I did stay in the lines this time.

ONE: Don't miss the boat.

TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat!

THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.

FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

SIX: Build your future on high ground.

SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.

EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile.

TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

ELEVEN: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

What about you? Have you read something that you feel is an everything-I-need-to-know, I learned from...?

It's Monday, so hugs and how about we party like it's Friday.

Vicki

Just when you thought all the good ideas were taken!

So it's been a crazy busy week and Friday is finally here. I'm at an offsite with work today, so I may not be able to comment back to anyone until later tonight.



I don't know about you, but if I had stairs I'd have to have what's in the picture, and the ladder is just cool anyway you look at it.




And here's the rest:













Can you imagine drinking out of one of these at Starbucks. Probably not so much.




So, which ones are your favorites? Have you seen any other pictures of things we'd love to have that are a bit different?

Hope everyone has a great weekend and make sure you've signed up VLN Newsletter, you won't want to miss the contest in this issue.

WW's and PD's,
Vicki

How much is too much……….

Okay I’ve been on this one scene for about 3 days (remember I can only write at night and on weekends – oh and I’m taking my time right now). Soooo… every time I go back to it I add more. Now before I go on let me clarify for you….this is a sex scene.

Have I got your attention now? ;-P”””

But it did get me to thinking…I know scary. But how much is too much before you start skimming and looking for something else on the pages?

For me, I’m good as long as there's an emotional arc that pulls me into the characters – I’m invested, but I’d say past 8-10 pages, even I’d get bored. And that goes for writing it too. (And just so you know I'm nowhere near that long on this scene).

So what about you?
Is there such a thing as too much?
Or will you read every word in angst for the next one?

And…
It doesn’t have to be a sex scene. This pertains to too much history in a historical, too much of a fight scene in say an Urban Fantasy, too much of anything. What is too much for you?

If you want to tell me why, that would be fabulous. ;-D

Hugs, oh and thanks for understanding letting me take off last week.

XOXOXO
LKap

It's Chocolate...You Know You Want Some

So I totally took this from Kristen Painter’s blog, but hey, we’re writers and its chocolate. FREE CHOCOLATE.

I mean really, I can see us standing in the corner of the kitchen holding a sign for our family…Will Cook For Chocolate.

If yours is like mine, you’d better hide the good stuff ‘cause it’ll be all gone.Besides, let's be honest here. Chocolate is our writer's drug...we need it, it makes us happy, and yes, it helps finish a scene here and there.

Enjoy,
Vicki

Yard Sale or Is It Selling the Yard?

This past weekend Science Guy’s sister came over to our house (not the one we’re buying, but the one we’re moving from) and had a yard sale. Since I’m in the middle of packing, I didn’t really have ‘other people’s hope to be treasures’ ready to put out. Other than a coffee pot, which sold right away. Okay, there was this one guy who wanted to know if we had any part of the yard we were selling. I'm thinking he meant the chairs, but really, did he want to buy part of my yard? Set up a tent? Probably not.

As far as packing and getting rid of stuff? No worries there, we’re doing another one next weekend. Hey, it’s summer and down here in the good ‘ole south, we love our garage sales. Heehee.

Thank the stars above the days was nice. There was a slight breeze most of the time so no sweating. I don’t like to sweat unless it’s going to mean loss of pounds. But I digress, that’s another post all together.

People stopped and looked around, bargained with her for what was really a low price already. But hey, isn’t that the fun of garage sell shopping. To walk away paying a little bit less than the asking price. I mean really, it’s the only place you can do that. Do not try it at Macy’s, they’ll look at you like you’re crazy. Heehee, never tried it, but heard about someone who supposedly did.
Here’s the thing, I don’t mind going to garage sells, you never know what you might find at one. I remember the guy who bought the green glass egg to find out it was a huge emerald. And of course I can’t forget the lady on the Antique Road show (love that show), who bough a half moon table for $20.00, to see it at auction for over $400,000.00. Yep, you read that correctly. She didn’t have any sentimental value with the piece so as soon as she found out what it was worth that baby headed for the auction house.

I don’t or at least haven’t found anything like that yet, but I did find a matching place setting to some dishes that I love. That was pretty cool to me.

So, what about you? Love ‘em or hate ‘em? And what’s the best treasure you’ve found at one (that you’d care to tell us about).

Vicki

Author Signing in Florida

The Tampa Area Romance Authors is sponsoring an amazing book signing. If you live anywhere near Tampa, Florida, then you don't want to miss this amazing author signing. This is a great chance to chat with authors and get their books.



Hope to see you there.

WW's and PD's,
Vicki