I’ve finally got some projects finished.  Fundamentals of World Building has a cover and should be available soon from L&L Dreamspell.

And, if you’re heading to Lora Leigh’s Reader Appreciation Weekend Sept. 9-12, I have some goodies as prizes for Trista Michaels’ Treasure Hunt.  One of them is a short story entitled, Corene. It’s a science fiction piece, an off-camera scene from a novel I’m working on.  Far different than my romance writing, but I think the winners will enjoy it.

Corene

As a bit of trivia, the character in the story is named after my great niece, and it is her picture that graces the cover.

I also have another short story up for grabs in the Treasure Hunt.  It’s an erotic romance short story.

Imago

As another bit of trivia, the heroine, Brenwyn, is named after my cousin’s wife, Brenda.  And again, it is her picture that graces the cover.  The tattoos are real, and only a small portion of them are shown.

If you can’t make it to RAW, I’ll have copies at the Roane County Writers Festival in downtown Kingston, Tennessee the first Saturday in October.

Now, off to important stuff.  I’ve got to get my cheat sheet ready for my fantasy football picks.  The draft is next week, and despite my love for the Colts, I know the individual players don’t make the best fantasy picks.  So, my team won’t be the mini Colts.  I do like to win.

Jessie

But can you get what you need?  I’m hearing, in the quiet murmuring of the masses, that the Tennessee Titans should go after Marvin Harrison and Jeff Saturday.  The Titans need a good wide receiver (they can certainly afford Marvin Harrison), and the Colts need Jeff Saturday.

Age, I’m sure, is playing a big factor in the Colts’ decision to let these two stellar players go, and while I can almost understand the situation with Harrison, the situation with Saturday makes me wonder.  

It’ll be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

Jessie

Well, I blew the Springsteen song picks, but there’s always next year.

We’ve had more crazy weather. Ice, snow, rain, freezing temps with wind chills below zero yesterday, and it’s supposed to be up in the 60’s tomorrow. It’s a wonder we’re not all sick.

But my boss is. He’s got what we call the creeping crud. Kinda starts out like a cold, and in a few days you’re miserable. Not as bad as the flu, but worse than the common cold. I got an e-mail from him this morning saying he’s staying home (where he should be) and is trying to get a doctor’s apt. I e-mailed him back and told him to stay home and get completely well before he came back into the office. Yep, I’m the soul of human kindness.

However, in this case I’m being a little selfish. My birthday is Saturday, and I’m looking forward to some party time. If he comes in tomorrow and shares the crud with me so that I’m sick over the weekend, it won’t be pretty around here.

I haven’t heard back from him yet.

On the writing front, I’m still working on Stygian and something new. Still waiting on tenterhooks for a response on my non-fiction piece. The publisher I sent it to didn’t have a response time listed, so it means I get to obsess about it from the minute I sent it in instead of a couple of months down the road.

That’s why I have chocolate.

Jessie

And so much has happened.  I had a wonderful Christmas - 30+ friends and family at the house on Christmas Eve.  Lots of great food (I gained weight), good times, and lots of presents for the kids.  I received an IPod Touch from my sweetie, and I’m totally addicted to it.  I take it everywhere.

New Year’s Eve was nothing spectacular.  Never celebrate it, but a few neighbors set off some fireworks, and I enjoyed the mini show.

Then, the playoffs.  Ughhhhhh.  None of my teams made it.  So, I’m pulling for the Cardinals.  The Cinderella team.  It seemed like all the favorites imploded at the end of the season, the strange, wacky season.  And UT football?  Looks like Lane Kiffin is doing what needs to be done, but it’s a wait-and-see process.

On a lighter note, I bought a new pair of pants a couple of weekends ago, and the zipper is on the wrong side.  By that, I mean I zip it with my left hand (like men’s pants) instead of the right.  Every time I wear them, it throws me off balance.

On the writing side of life, I’m working on some projects and hope to get them out by spring.  One is a non-fiction book on world building.  The other two are fiction, one sci-fi and the other an alternate dimension romance.

Jessie

Well, I finally got to see a Colts’ game — almost.  The station cut away from it in the 3rd quarter, because the Colts were winning by such a large margin.  I turned the channel and finished watching the Tampa Bay game.  Doesn’t CBS know the Colts fans have been waiting for a game like that?

My disappointment wasn’t long-lived, though, because Sunday night we added a new member to the family.  A 7 month old Rottweiler named Rocky.  We got him through a private rescue agency.  He already comes up past my knees and is all paws.  He’s very sweet tempered and just wants to play and be the center of attention.

I’ll be heading out to the Women’s Expo in Kingsport, Tenn this weekend.  It’s a great line-up this year with Teresa Medeiros, Julia Quinn, Lora Leigh, Beth Williamson, Marie-Nicole Ryan, Trista Ann Michaels, Jennifer Estep, and several others I can’t remember off the top of my head now.  Plus, if you’re a JR Ward fan, there will be an auction for a complete set of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books signed by the author.  There’s a dinner with the authors on Friday night, and the authors will be signing books on Saturday & Sunday.  Please stop by and say hello if you’re in the area.  You can find more information at www.womensexpoauthors.com.

I usually miss the Tennessee/Alabama game while I’m at the Expo, but this year it’s the Vols v. Mississippi State, and it’s only available here on Pay-Per-View.  I hope the Vols win, but I’m not holding my breath.

Jessie

I managed to make it to the Food City Food Show here in Knoxville over the weekend and left with two bags of stuff - both of them bursting.  There were a lot of vendors, and I came home with a few more ideas on dishes for my once-a-month cooking.  So far, most of the dishes I’ve frozen have come out well.  One of the chicken dishes came out a little dry, the spaghetti sauce, the meatloaves, the roast, the chicken salad, and the BBQ chicken all turned out great.  But I’m still looking for healthy dishes that freeze well, so if you have any recipes you think might work, give me a shout.

Now, back to the Food Show:  I also got to meet Dwight Fryer, JT Ellison, CL Wilson, Elizabeth Boyle, and Anna Windsor.  It was also nice seeing JoAnn Ross and Teresa Medeiros again.  SMRW opened a hospitality suite and we were able to spend some time with the authors.  Dwight Fryer is simply an amazing story teller.  I picked up both of his books at the Food Show and can’t wait to start reading.  CL Wilson gave us a wonderful mini workshop on description which was awesome.

Now, I’m gearing up to speak at SMRW’s Super Saturday event.  I and fellow authors Kate McKeever and Cheryel Hutton are presenting a workshop on Worldbuilding, which will also encompass psychic characters and a “creature feature” for those who love weres, vamps, dragons, and things that bump in the night.  Michael Knight and Shannon Burke will also be giving a presentation on plotting, and several other SMRW members will present basics workshops.  For more details, check out their website at www.smrw.org/events.htm.

Not even talking about football.  The Vols are in a heap of trouble, the Colts didn’t play, TB won, but Dallas lost.  Although, Brett Favre’s six touchdown passes were impressive.

Jessie

I’m still cooking, but I only have a few more dishes to prepare.  Should finish up tomorrow.

Yeah, Tennessee!  The Vols had a better showing this weekend than last weekend.  I didn’t get to see much of the game due to the SMRW meeting, but from what I saw, it looked like they got some things ironed out.  It was worth it to miss the game, though, because we had a fantastic speaker at the meeting.  Dr. Bethany Dumas, an English professor at the Universtiy of Tennessee, spoke on linguistics at the meeting.  Absolutely fascinating.  I hope she will agree to come back and speak again.

From the strange but true file:  I’ve seen drivers doing a lot of things while operating a vehicle - reading the newspaper, shaving with an electric razor, putting on make-up, and even reading a book once.  She had it open over the steering wheel, holding the edges of the book and the steering wheel at the same time.  I was glad to be behind her, because it was a little scary watching her drive and read at the same time.  However, yesterday on my way home from work, I exited the interstate and pulled up behind a guy in an SUV who was brushing his teeth.  Now, I’m all for good oral health, and technically since we were waiting on the light to change he wasn’t driving, (at that moment), but one thing really bothered me about the situation.  He had to rinse and spit somewhere.  And, he did continue brushing after the light turned green.

Have a great weekend & Go, Colts!

Jessie

It’s Here! The first official game of the NFL 2008-2009 season, Giants v. Redskins. I’m pulling for the Giants. Sports people who study the stats are already making predictions, have their top 20 ranking lists, and are speculating how the season will turn out for the teams. There are injuries, personnel changes, road games, home games, new stadiums, weather, etc. which influence the rankings.

I’m not basing my predictions on any of that.

Here’s how I see, (hope?) the top thirteen at season’s end:

1. Indianapolis Colts
2. Dallas Cowbows
3. NY Giants
4. Jacksonville Jaguars
5. New England Patriots
6. San Diego Chargers
7. Philadelphia Eagles
8. Tennessee Titans
9. Greenbay Packers
10. New York Jets
11. Pittsburgh Steelers
12.Tampa Bay Buccaneers
13. New Orleans Saints

Okay, maybe I’m using a little, very little, of what I read on the sports pages. After all, I’m not a Pats fan or a Chargers fan, but I do want to see the Colts back on top with another Super Bowl win. It was really a toss-up between the Cowboys and the Giants, but I’m giving the Giants an edge, even with Shockey gone, because Pac Man (or whatever he wants to be called this week) is still an unknown. I think it’ll be interesting to see how my picks will compare with the standings. Who knows? I may even get one or two right.

Jessie

Not whining today! I had a great Labor Day Weekend, and spent time with the kids on Monday. Boomsday was awesome as always, the Vols lost (which was disappointing, but not shattering), and Phaze Fantasies, Vol. VI got a recommended read from Dark Angel Reviews!

https://www.darkangelreviews.com/Phaze_Fantasies_VI.html

Is this a champagne moment? Nah. I reserve the champagne for extreme moments. The last time I drank the bubbly was when the Colts won the Super Bowl. However, I might stop and get something light and fruity to go with dinner. Now, I just have to find out what wine pairs well with salmon.

Jessie

I found a great site for television theme songs. It has a name the theme game which is downright addictive. I didn’t do very well on it. When you don’t watch much more than the Sci-Fi or sports channels, it’s hard to recognize any themes.

Of course, I tuned right into the Monday Night Football theme (http://www.televisiontunes.com/ABC_Monday_Night_Football_-_1989.html) and The X-Files Theme (http://www.televisiontunes.com/X-Files.html). It also had themes for some of my other favorites, some shows I’ve never heard of, and the ending theme which plays while the credits roll.

Jessie