you have to watch the singing to get to the good part

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How to post reviews at amazon and Barnes & Noble

Links included here for you

At amazon:
There used to be a review features, but there is now a customer discussion being beta tested. Go to The Preacher's Daughter at amazon.com and scroll about three fourths of the way down the page, wa-a-y past the loo-ong excerpt to where it says "Rate this item." You can assign a star rating there. A little farther down is the section that says "Customer Discussions." I'm sure you will need to sign in to leave a discussion comment. You can do the same for any of my books.


How to post at Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble still has an easy to find and use little "Write a review" link right beside the The Preacher's Daughter book cover. Simply click there and post your review.

Blake Lewis rocks the house - again!

Garden Chat

I've been concentrating on new proposals for at least a month it seems. Sometimes I try so hard that all creativity grinds to a halt, so I have to let my brain relax and go elsewhere. Last week I took a couple mornings to Spring clean. It was lovely. This week I'm taking a couple mornings to garden.

A couple weeks ago, a late freeze took all the blooms from my flowering cherry tree, which is only three years old. Also ruined the blooms on my young lilac bushes. It got my daffodils, the delicate tiger lilies which had broken ground, and other early bloomers. It looks as though my bleeding heart will pull through, and the columbines are blooming now.

The newspaper said to just leave everything and see what happened, so that's what I did. We got a week long monsoon of rain next and then a heat wave. Sunday was in the 90s. Yesterday and today are lovely, however! Yesterday I stirred up my special dirt recipe: good topsoil, peat and compost. Jay will bring me a couple yards of black soil whenever I need it and I mix and keep it all it a wooden-frame in the side yard to work from. Boy, do the worms like it!

I got my bed by the front steps finished. I had already cleaned it, but needed fresh dirt to add seeds. The verbena bloomed and the columbine and a few dainty violas survived. I planted morning glories at the back and will make a trellis against the corner of the house. When the sun comes around there later today, I'll see what kind of picture I can take.

At the side, I cleared away all the winter leaves and the hopeless tiger lilies. Spring is when I clean out the shasta daisies, because it's an impossible task in the fall. Of course we cut back all the mums, but I let most of the flowers go until spring and allow leaves to pile around them, so they're protected.

All this garden talk is making me eager for full bloom!

another before and after makeup miracle

Did you laugh?

The Natural Look - Eww!

I just love these kinds of pics! They just make you feel, well, better about yourself, don't they? These women who appear to be such knockouts looks just like us! Er, well, okay, sometimes not as good as us! LOL

Yes, Renee and Julia are easily recognized.


But....

what about this one? Can you even guess?

All I can say is, I WISH I had her makeup person at my house every morning!

Thomas Edison did what????

R.I.P Topsy

Topsy, Electrocuted by Edison
Died 1903 - Coney Island, New York


As the 19th century turned into the 20th, one of the biggest attractions at Coney Island's "Luna Park" was its private herd of elephants, which roamed freely. A favorite was Topsy, a three-ton tusker whose great strength had been put to use building the attractions that made Coney Island so much fun.

But Topsy had a temper. She killed three men in three years, the last a drunk trainer who had fed her a lit cigarette. Topsy had to go. But how? The authorities fed her carrots laced with cyanide. She wolfed them down without effect. Topsy was one tough elephant.

Thompson & Dundy, who owned Luna Park, decided to turn Topsy into a moral issue -- and to make a profit at the same time. They announced that man-killer Topsy would be publicly hanged for her crimes. The ASPCA protested: Hanging was cruel and inhuman punishment. After all, hadn't New York State just replaced the gallows with a modern electric chair?

All right, said Thompson and Dundy. Coney Island has a powerful electrical plant -- we'll FRY Topsy! But to pull it off, they needed top-shelf technical support. And that's where Thomas Edison came in.

Edison at the time was engaged in his own free-for-all, battling George Westinghouse for control of America's electric infrastructure. Edison had declared that his direct current system was safe, but that Westinghouse's alternating current was a deadly menace. To prove it, Edison had been publicly electrocuting dogs and cats for years. And it was Edison who had convinced New York to use Westinghouse's "deadly" AC for their electric chair.

Topsy offered an opportunity that Edison couldn't resist. What better way to demonstrate the horrible consequences of alternating current than to roast a full-grown elephant?

Edison sent over a crack team of technicians -- and a film crew. Topsy was led to a special platform, the cameras were set rolling, the switch was thrown. It took only ten seconds. Edison later showed the film to audiences across the country to prove his point.

In the end, it made no difference. AC beat out DC, but both Edison and Westinghouse prospered. In fact, Westinghouse was awarded the Edison Medal for "meritorious achievements in the development of the alternating current system."

That wasn't much consolation to Topsy, who was dead, nor to Luna Park, which was eventually destroyed in a horrible fire. Today, nothing remains of either except for Edison's film. If you ask the folks at the Coney Island Museum, they'll show it to you.

FIRST FIVE from 4/14

Five books going out today to these who responded first on my birthday:

Brenda
Dee Ann W
Lucky Lou
Carol
WDMCuz

Brenda and Lou, since you're already getting a book from that posting, I'll send you something else for your quick posts yesterday.

Betsy and Karen W will get books for reviews asap.

Let's make a Deal!

What does this picture have to do with today's blog? Well, it got your attention, didn't it?
I've done many different types of things to promote my books over the years. I've sent review copies to bookstores and to libraries and reviewers. I never know how much good it does, but I'm always open to change and to trying something new. I have a deal for you this week. Instead of a contest, I'm making this offer:

If you agree to write and post a review of The Preacher's Daughter at amazon.com and barnes&noble.com, I will send you an advance copy of the book. Autographed. One of my personal author copies.

Five is a good number, don't you think?

I will send books to the first FIVE people who post here and agree to write reviews.

Featuring a Hunk on Friday

Nicolas Cage is the nephew of famed director Francis Ford Coppola. In his first movie, fast Times at Ridgemont High, he appeared under the name Nicolas Coppola for the first and only time. He might have had a bigger role in the movie, but he was just 17 when it was getting made! He turned 43 in January.

Some things just get better with time...

Love him or hate him?
Favorite movie he starred in?
Mine is Face Off.

They don't make TV like they used to....

Cover Wow

My friend, Pam has a July HH, too. Is this an awesome cover, or what??


I rec'd my author copies of The Preacher's Wife this morning.
Get ready for a contest this week. I think I need to give a couple away.

I took a day off yesterday. I used it to clean windows, wash curtains, and do Spring cleaning upstairs. I know, some day off, eh? But it was time away from the "work in progress" as we writers call the current projects. My creativity had been a bust for a week or more, and when that happens, it's time to give myself permission to do other things, knowing that it frees me up to think again in due time.

It was one of those perfect days: perfect weather to clean windows and have them all open; perfect weather to shake rugs and smell the clean smells from the dryer in the backyard. When I do tasks like that I prefer no music or TV or distractions, just me and my mundane thoughts.

Long about afternoon, I took a break with an apple slathered with peanut butter and checked email. I have google alerts set for specific words and phrases: my name, my book titles, so I catch reviews, etc.. A reader blog came through as having posted lists - and you know how I love lists - favorite books, favorite authors. There among Sybil's favorite books was one of mine - and on her list of favorite authors was my name.

All afternoon I had time to really think about that and what it means. I've read similar posts and reviews, of course, but yesterday I had time to contemplate being a favorite author. It's every writer's dream to have their stories read and enjoyed. Sometimes, after the day-to-day hassle of the business, we writers take having our books published for granted, sort of like turning on a switch and knowing there will immediately be light in the room. I am someone's favorite author. Several someones. That's an extraordinary concept, one I do appreciate because I have my own favorites and know the pleasure their books bring me. To realize that I am able to give that same feeling to others is awesome.

Today it's raining. Seriously raining. My rooms are dusted and vacuumed and everything is neatly in order. My clean windows are drizzled with rain, but hey, it's spring and my flowers will be bursting when the sun warms things up.

And I am someone's favorite author.

Tune in on Tuesday

Favorite Covers

You have until May 11th to vote for your favorite nominated covers at the Cover Cafe. Warning: There is also a worst cover category.

Far Away Thoughts

A reader noted the similarity of The Preacher's Daughter cover to a painting by Charles Curran. It's lovely.

Child of her Heart - Japan

This is a two-in-one, paired with Karen Rose Smith's story, and it's quite obviously not my hero on the front! Child of Her Heart has an African-American hero. I left the banner on the book to scan, so you could see the whole thing. The green banner is a loose strip that comes off. Japanese books are printed backwards from our books, so what you see here is what we consider the back cover.

Cool, huh?

Bones a Rerun - but a GOOD one if you missed it

From E! Online:

In the wake of Monday's tragic shootings at Virginia Tech, Fox is taking no chances with its programming.

The network made the decision to pull a new episode of Bones from its Wednesday lineup, fearing that the plotline, which centers on the discovery of human remains on a college campus, would strike too close to home.

"Out of sensitivity to the victims and families touched by this senseless tragedy, we felt the change was appropriate," a Fox spokesperson told E! News.

A Bones repeat will fill the gap in the schedule.

In the episode originally scheduled to air Wednesday, Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) visit a college campus where the remains of the school's star basketball player have been found crushed underneath a set of courtside bleachers.

After reconstructing the victim's skull, Brennan and Booth determine that he was dead before the bleachers fell on him. They then work to establish motives for his murder, interviewing individuals such as his girlfriend, his replacement on the team and his future basketball agent.

Their search for answers reveals that the victim was caught up in a shady situation before his death and leads to questions about whether more than one person could have been involved in orchestrating his demise.

Fox has not yet determined when the episode will air.

Bones is the network's fourth-most watched scripted series (after House, 24 and Prison Break), and has averaged 9.2 million viewers to date this season. Fox announced in February that it had picked up the drama for a third season.

Ironically, it's not the first time a show starring Boreanaz has been rescheduled in the wake of a deadly school shooting.

Following the Columbine High School shootings in April 1999, the WB postponed two episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, fearing that scenes where students armed themselves with guns were inappropriate.

One of the delayed episodes was the second half of the two-part season three finale, "Graduation Day," which was replaced with a rerun at the last minute, much to the dismay of the show's fans.

After receiving thousands of letters demanding that the finale be aired, the WB finally complied on July 13, 1999—almost two months after the episode's original broadcast date.

The other episode, "Earshot," was originally slated to air just one week after the Columbine massacre, but was postponed until September, due to a scene where a student arms himself with a high-powered rifle with the apparent intent of committing mass murder.

The rampage at Virginia Tech on Monday left 33 people dead, including the gunman, and more than a dozen hospitalized. It was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history.

Prom Night

Last night was Erin's prom. Is she a knockout or what??