You’re the next weekly winner in the books giveaway. (Wow, I hope everyone gets the Price is Right reference in the post title, or I’m going to feel silly.)  Fedora, e-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your full name and mailing address, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this week:

Longwalker’s Child by Debra Webb
Falling for You by Julie Ortolon
To Love and To Cherish by Patricia Gaffney

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. Ours was nice except that our little five-month-old nephew was in the hospital with bad bronchitis. He got to go home today, though he’s still a sick little boy. Hopefully, he’ll continue to get better over the next few days. It’s so hard seeing a baby in the hospital, especially when you can’t explain to him why all this is going on.

On the good news front, I got a release date for my second Harlequin American, The Willow Creek Cafe. It’ll be out in May 2009. I’ll be working on revisions to it after I finish my outline for my next YA novel, which is what is on the docket this week.

Okay, time for last week’s book winner — Cindy Procter-King! Cindy, contact me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get your books out to you.

Up for grabs this week:

The Hidden Years by Susan Kearney
The Greek Tycoon’s Unwilling Wife by Kate Walker
Angel in My Arms by Colleen Faulkner

Last week’s winner of three free books was…Emily Marshall! Congrats, Emily. E-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this week:

St. Raven by Jo Beverley
Line of Fire by Cindy Dees
The Year of Living Famously by Laura Caldwell

I’ve been very busy the past week, working on a new book. I read back through the first three chapters today, colored pen at the ready to make revisions. Though I marked several things, overall I was happy with the story so far. That was a nice surprise since I’m always convinced I’m going to go back over it only to find out it’s total crapola.

Today was the Heart of Dixie Readers’ Luncheon in Huntsville, Alabama. I was attending for the first time, and as a guest author. I’m sure I was grinning like an idiot the entire time. I’ll admit to being a bit nervous. After all, I was low on the author totem pole since I don’t have a book out yet. I had visions of no one sitting with me or being forced to sit at the “loser table” when the big authors’ tables filled up. I didn’t have anything to really give the ladies sitting at my table other than my new bookmarks. I was lamenting this last night, when my faboo roomie for the event, author Janice Lynn, mentioned that some authors in the past had bought the people at their table raffle tickets for the big baskets of books that are raffled off. Great idea!

Well, like most things I worried about, I shouldn’t have. A lovely lady named Susan came up and said she had been looking for me because she wanted to sit at my table. Color me shocked! And thankful. We started talking about my books and where we were from, and then something amazing happened. More people sat at my table! I ended up with the most wonderful group of ladies, and we had a great time talking. That’s them below. Susan is on the far right. (Sorry I can’t get the picture to post any bigger. It’s being contrary.)

Lady Luck seemed to be with our table too. Of the eight people at the table, five won raffle baskets. Three of them won two baskets each, including the biggest basket donated by the published authors of the Heart of Dixie chapter of Romance Writers of America. Dorothy, Susan’s mother-in-law, won the huge basket of goodies. And here’s the funny part. Even though she’d bought several raffle tickets, the one I’d given her was the winner of the big basket. How cool is that!? Here’s Dorothy looking very happy with her large, very cool basket.

The keynote speaker today was Roxanne St. Claire, who was just lovely and entertaining. She was so popular that she ran out of books at the book signing. Here I am with Roxanne. We evidently got the subliminal memo to wear black and white, as did many of the other attendees.

The authors in attendance also gave away special baskets. Again, since I didn’t have any books yet, I put together a basket from my Romance Bandits gals. Here is the lovely Ann Linker, who won the basket. See, she got the black-and-white memo too.

I got to meet the wonderful Pamela Bolton-Holifield (who comments as “doglady” on the Romance Bandits, Wet Noodle Posse and many other blogs). She was sporting her shiny new gold heart bin for being a Golden Heart finalist. Here’s Pam with me and then with my roomie Janice. Pam comments frequently on the Writers at Play blog, where Janice is a member.

Finally, here I am with fellow RWA board member and shoe shopper extraordinaire Linda Howard. (I think she got the memo too.)

Thanks to the ladies of Heart of Dixie. I had a wonderful time and hope I can come back next year. Hint, hint. And I’ll even have books to sign by then!

First off, it’s time to announce the winner of last week’s free books. And the winner is…Bunny. E-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this week are:

Under Siege by Catherine Mann
The Wrong Child by Patricia Kay
The Cinderella Rules by Donna Kauffmann (an advanced reading copy)

Remember, all you have to do to be in the running to win is comment on one of my blog posts this week.

On to my own book news. My YA editor and I are tossing some ideas about my second book for Razorbill back and forth. While we’re doing that, I started work on a proposal for Harlequin American today. I hope this will be the first book on a new contract. My goal is to write 10 pages a day. At that rate, I should finish the proposal this week and have it polished up and sent to my agent by the middle of next week at the latest.

Okay, on to the latest TV observations. I was disappointed in the Survivor results last night. I was rooting for Amanda and Cirie, and they ended up coming in second and third respectively. While she didn’t win $1 million, Amanda did come away with love in the form of fellow competitor Ozzy. His words to her during the final Tribal Council made my romance writer’s heart melt. I wish them all the best. Cirie’s final words after being voted out about broke my heart. And what was up with Natalie’s weirdo bedroom question for Parvati (the big winner)? I kind of felt sorry for Parv having to answer that out-of-the-blue and totally irrelevant question. Jeff Probst, the jury, and viewers were all confused.  And let me just say here, I really like Erik. Sure, he made a move that really cost him, but he seems like a really genuine nice guy. And I like to see the really nice people do well. I do think this is an experience that he’ll really treasure the rest of his life since he’s been such a fan for so long.

Looks like Survivor is going back to Africa again, this time to Gabon. This will be interesting since the first Africa season is one of three seasons I missed (Hey, it’s when Friends got good, and it was in The Time Before TiVo). I know the beach locations are popular, but I like it when they shake it up a bit like they did by going to China. The only time they’ve gone to what should have perhaps been a more memorable location and the season wasn’t good was Thailand, which goes down as the worst season in Survivor history in my book. Suckola.

Anyone watch Bones tonight? If you didn’t and plan to, SPOILER WARNING. It was a perfectly fine episode until the end when it turned into a great episode. Loved Tempe singing Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” on stage, loved how Booth was really enjoying himself watching her, and gasped when crazy stalker chick shot Booth. Okay, we know Booth has to live because there’d be no show if he didn’t, but I’m so interested in seeing what happens in next week’s season finale. Oh, and Gormagon will be back, and someone in the lab is going to betray the rest. If it’s any of the main characters (as in Angela, Hodgens, Zach, or Tempe), I’m so not going to be happy. I really don’t want it to be Angela or Hodgens because I don’t want them to split up. That leaves only Camille or some minor walk-on character as the culprit. Hmm…

Several weeks ago, someone whose screen name is catlady won one of my week free book drawings. She has, however, not e-mailed with her mailing info to claim her prize. So, catlady, if you’re out there, let me know by e-mailing through the Contact page on this site and I’ll get your books out to you.

So, anyone out there still following along with Survivor? Poor James had to leave the show last week because of injury. That’s two people gone because of injury and one because she quit. Of those left, I’m rooting for Amanda and Eric. The finale is this upcoming Sunday. Who is everyone’s bet for final two?

The winner of this week’s three freebie books is…Teri Brown! Teri, e-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing info, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this upcoming week are:

Night and Day by Anne Stuart and Gayle Wilson
Drive Me Wild by Julie Ortolon
Forever Beloved by Joan Van Nuys

Sorry, I didn’t post the list of books up for grabs last week, but they were:

Father of the Brood by Terry Essig
Key of Valor by Nora Roberts
A Charmed Place by Antoinette Stockenberg

The winner was…Jane! I’ll get the books out to you this week.

And speaking of this week, here’s the offerings you could win by commenting on one of this week’s posts:

Lord of Sin by Madeline Hunter
The Amethyst Crown by Katherine Deauxville
Perfect Ten by Bonnie Purcell

So, you all know about my home Internet woes the other day. Last night, the Internet in my hotel room didn’t work so I had to go to the lobby to check e-mail. Today, I get to the conference hotel for Romantic Times, and guess what. You got it — the Internet signal in my room doesn’t work! So, I’m in the lobby again. Oh well, at least I’m not paying out the nose for access like I usually do at conference hotels. Have you ever noticed that the more expensive the hotel, the smaller the room and the less you get for free? Hmm…

I’ll post this week’s freebie books up for grabs tomorrow (I left the list up in my room and I’m too tired to go get it), but last week’s winner is Rae Ann! E-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing address, and I’ll send the books to you.

Marianne is the winner of the books for the week. Marianne, e-mail me through the Contact page on this site with your mailing address, and I’ll get the books out to you.

Up for grabs this week are:

The First Day by Barbara McMahon
Stranger in Town by Brenda Novak
In Camelot’s Shadow by Sarah Zettel

Remember, all you have to do to be in the running is to comment on a blog this week.