This month, several members of the Wet Noodle Posse, including myself, are on an Unleash Your Story team. We’ve all set writing goals for the month and are reporting in each week. We’re also raising money for the cause behind Unleash Your Story, cystic fibrosis. The young son of our team leader, Colleen Gleason, suffers from CF, so it’s a cause of great importance to her and her family and friends. Colleen blogged about her son on the Unleash Your Story page. Be sure to check it out.

And if you’re able to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, please do so here.

When I returned from running errands today, the box of bookmarks I’d ordered was sitting on the front porch. I admit I kind of held my breath when I opened them, hoping they looked okay and were of good quality. They’re bee-yoo-ti-ful! I’m so happy with them, and with the new business card I’d already received. Instead of doing new bookmarks for each new book (which can get expensive and lead to leftovers when the book is no longer available), I decided to brand my Web site’s look on my other promo materials. There’s a peek at the bookmark at the bottom of this post.

I’m guessing you all have seen the news stories about the horrible devastation left by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. Author Ann Aguirre is running a contest that encourages everyone to donate to charities helping those affected. When you provide Ann with proof that you’ve donated, your name goes in the running for a prize of 150 free books. Click here for more info.

I mowed the lawn again for Travelin’ Hubby. I’m thinking I just might mow enough this summer to get in some smaller jeans.

My wonderful friend Mary, aka MJ Fredrick, is realizing her dream today because today is the release date for her first book, Where There’s Smoke, out in e-book form from the Wild Rose Press. Let’s chat with her.

Q. How does it feel today, on the official release day of your first book?

A. Better than I ever dreamed. I’ve been bouncing off the walls for a couple of weeks waiting, and every time I see the cover, I get excited all over again. It’s been a long time coming — 13 years. I’m walking on air. (Wow, it’s kind of like listening to those sports interviews after the game, all those cliches flying around; there aren’t that many in my book, I promise!)

Q. How did Where There’s Smoke come about? Tell us a little about the story, but just enough to whet our appetites. After all, we want our lovely blog readers to go out and buy it.

A. Funny story, actually. I’m a teacher, and a firefighter band came to my school to play for the kids during Red Ribbon Week. All of the teachers were swooning over the Incredibly Handsome guitar player. I finagled an invitation to lunch with them (shameless!), and it turned out that he was the son of my uncle’s best friend! We talked a lot, and I remembered my cousin Jennifer talking about him when she was younger (though never in a romantic way.) So I started thinking about what would happen if two kids who grew up together and became best friends finally realized that there could be something more between them. What would the reactions of their families be? What would keep them apart? And why didn’t they notice each other before? That’s where the book came from. It was surprisingly easy to write. It just flowed right out. (Harder to revise, I will say.)

Q. What have you been most surprised by since you sold?

A. The support of other writers. I didn’t even have to think about that one. The people who have been so excited for me buoy me up more than anything else.

Q. When did you first have the idea that you wanted to write novels?

A. When I was 9 years old and wrote a Grease rip-off. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. And I’ve always wanted to write romance. Once I got out of college, the dh bought me an electric typewriter and I started down the path, though I didn’t finish my first book (since the Grease rip-off) for 8 years!

Q. If they made a movie of Where There’s Smoke, who would play your leads?

A. You know, if you asked me this of any other story, I could tell you. But this one was actually based on real people. Jorge Alberti from Passions might be good for Seth. And definitely Adrienne Palicki from Friday Night Lights for Lauren. She would have the perfect attitude, though I don’t imagine she’d feel as self-conscious as Lauren does.

Q. How can readers get their very own copy of Where There’s Smoke?

A. It�s available in electronic format from The Wild Rose Press today!!!!

Thanks for being with us today, Mary. Okay, everyone, fire off those questions for Mary.

I revised two chapters today, ones which required some substantial rewriting. When you have to change something about a character’s arc, that change tends to affect everything else. Thus, rewriting of scenes so they make sense.

About mid-day, I noticed my brain not focusing as much as it had during the morning hours so I took a break to watch some things that had accumulated on my TiVo during my time away. I watched the two episodes of Men in Trees that have aired since it’s return after the writers’ strike. I was happy to see the sweet reunion of Jack (pictured above) and Marin, but I found myself feeling sorry for Cash (pictured below) too. It’s obvious he really likes Marin as well. And honestly, I thought the powers that be would have Jack be lost at sea a little longer so they could complicate things by having Marin and Cash grow closer. But it looks like Jack might be jetting off again according to the previews for next week. How that’s going to be believable, I’m not sure. I do love this show though — the quirky characters, the Alaska setting. It reminds me of a cross between Northern Exposure and the wonderful novels of Dana Stabenow. Plus, after giving my brain a rest, I was able to come back to my computer and get some more good work done.

So, any Men in Trees fans out there? If so, are you a Jack fan or a Cash fan? Or both?!

Today is the last day of voting in the fourth round of the American Title contest. There are only four of us finalists left, and as of the end of voting today we’ll be down to the final two. So if you have a spare moment and haven’t voted or you know someone who has an e-mail address who hasn’t voted, please visit http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle3.php and vote. My manuscript is called OUT OF SIGHT. Thanks!

Okay, off to do revisions.

I’ve been missing from my Blogger blog for awhile, partly because of a family illness and partly because this new site has been in the works. All my old posts from the Blogger site are here, and I’ll be adding new posts in the days ahead. From Jan. 21-27, if you post a comment to this blog, you’ll be entered in the drawing described on my Homepage. Hey, it includes free books, two of the best words in the English language.

If you hear screaming in the next few weeks, it’ll be because my nose will be pressed firmly to the grindstone. My second Harlequin American is due Feb. 15, and I have much work to do. Busy, busy, busy!

Let me know what you think of the new site.

No, I’m not one of the lesser-known presidential candidates headed into the Iowa caucuses next month. But I am one of six remaining finalists in the American Title contest, so once again I need your votes to move on to Round 4. The two people with the lowest amount of votes this round will be eliminated as of the end of voting on Dec. 30, and I really don’t want to start off the new year by having to say bye-bye. So check out the latest round, including my story summary for OUT OF SIGHT, here:

http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle3.php

In addition to your vote, it would be fabulous if you could garner votes from the following:

1. Family — husbands, children, parents, siblings, your third cousin twice removed
2. Friends — ALL of them. Hee hee hee.
3. Co-workers — Seriously, they need something to do besides work anyway.
4. Fellow members of committees, your RWA chapters, PTA, basically any group with people with e-mail addresses.
5. Your local librarians and booksellers
6. Your neighbors
7. All your kids’ friends — You know they’re all online all the time anyway. May they spread the info through the MySpace and Facebook and text messaging universes!
8. Any online communities of which you’re a member

Thank you SO MUCH for all the support!

Over at the Romance Bandits, I’m blogging about how I miss my grandmas this time of year and how I’ve adopted my husband’s grandma. Scoot on over and tell me about memories of your grandmothers.
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In exciting writing-related news, I got my release date today. The first Harlequin American will hit store shelves next September! Wow, it felt cool to type that.

Voting in Round 2 of the American Title contest (think American Idol but for books) has started, and I’m happy that I survived Round 1 and am still in the game! To survive yet another round and get one step closer to having my book, OUT OF SIGHT, published, I need your help. During Round 1, I did a blog tour for two weeks in which I appeared, writing on a different topic every day to get the word out about the contest and my entry. Since I’m going to be traveling a lot on business during the next couple of weeks and will have large chunks of time when I’m Internet-less, that isn’t possible this time. Plus, I want to try something different. I’m calling in the Snowball Effect. Visualize me at the top of a snowy mountain. I form a small snowball and start it rolling downhill by telling people I know about the contest and asking them to vote. It grows bigger and bigger (people I contact about voting contacting people they know and then those people contacting people they know, and on and on) until the snowball is HUGE at the bottom of the mountain. HUGE = enough votes to help me advance to Round 3. So how can you help?

1. Go to http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle3.php and vote for OUT OF SIGHT. This round is focusing on descriptions of the heroes and heroines of the remaining finalists’ books, and I’m so happy that I got nice comments from the judges.

2. Ask other people in your family to vote. Remember, Romantic Times is only accepting one vote per person this year, but if your husband/wife/significant other, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, children, grandparents, etc., have an e-mail address, please ask them to vote. Tell them they’ll make this gal in Tennessee they don’t know really happy.

3. Do you work outside the home? Ask your co-workers to vote. I hope some of you work at really big companies.

4. Are you a member of groups (PTA, a sports team, choir, book club, etc.)? Ask your fellow members to vote, to help make a dream come true. I was excited when I wrote OUT OF SIGHT, and I’d LOVE to see it on bookstore shelves. If I win this contest, I’m so going to dedicate the book to all the people who made the win possible.

5. Frequent your local bookstore? Have a favorite bookseller? Ask her/him to vote and to get the rest of the employees to vote. Patrons too! Hey, if I win, that’ll be one more book they can put on their shelves! (Oh, this goes for libraries and librarians too.) And while you’re at the bookstore, look for the December issue of Romantic Times Magazine. My fellow finalists and I are in it. I just bought my copy this afternoon, and it’s weird to see myself in a magazine I can buy at the bookstore.

6. Are you going to be attending a Thanksgiving gathering? Set up a computer where everyone in attendance can vote from their e-mail address.

7. Kids are constantly online. Ask your children to have all their friends vote.

8. Do you have a blog? MySpace page? Participate in online forums? Post there about the voting.

9. For everyone you ask to vote, ask them to ask people they know, and so on (thus, the Snowball Effect). It’s like a chain letter, only less annoying. And tell them that I really, really, really appreciate them taking the time to do so.

Again, thanks so much for the votes. I truly appreciate your help.

Today is the last day to vote in the first round of the American Title contest. If you haven’t done so, scoot on over to the Romantic Times site to do so. And if you choose to vote for my OUT OF SIGHT, I’ll be very thankful. I’ll post tomorrow about whether I make it to the second round.