YEAH BABY! I got tickets

I got tickets!!!! When J Geils broke up in 1984 I wore a black armband for a week. They have since reunited only a few times for one-night-only gigs, and my baby got me tickets to see them open the new House of Blues on Landsdowne Street February 19th. They were a last minute substitute for The Gypsy Kings, who have no business opening a House of Blues on Landsdowne Street anyhow.

Oh Goddess is OUT Today

“Oh Goddess ” by Gwen Hayes

Read An Excerpt Online
Genre: Paranormal Romance

ISBN: 978-1-60504-367-8
Length: Short Story
Price: 2.50
Publication Date: January 27, 2009
Cover art by Tuesday Dube

Born to protect women’s hearts, her own beats longingly for a mortal. Oops…

Ondina, one thousand years a goddess, doesn’t think much of mortal men. Probably because her sole purpose in life is to protect the hearts of women who don’t want to fall in love. And now one of those blasted men—Jack—has shattered her sacred chalice, trapping her in a mortal body.

Jackson Nichols, on the partner track at his law firm, is the first to admit he always follows his head. Never his heart. Dina is infuriating, messy, condescending, sexy, beautiful and…well, just about everything that doesn’t fit into his meticulously planned life.

Neither expects to find many redeeming qualities in the other. But when push comes to love, which will Dina choose? Her newly human heart…or one thousand years of duty?

*All author and editor proceeds from the sale of Oh Goddess will be donated to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis. You can find out more about the foundation at www.coalitionforpf.org.

Warning: Recent studies show that consuming beverages while reading this story can cause damage to computer monitors, clothing, and sometimes nearby walls. Reader agrees to hold both Samhain Publishing Ltd. and Gwen Hayes harmless in case of accidental spewing caused by laughter.

Read An Excerpt Online

My Ed Hardys

You probably don't care, and that's cool. I have a rather... err... unique sense of style. Don't deny it. I dress, in the day-to-day living, like a 20 year old frat boy... from the 80s.


But oh... OOOOhhhhhh the love I have for Ed Hardy shoes. So don't despise me or judge me. But I'm having a full-on nerd-gasm over my shiny, new, patent-leather Ed Hardy Tattoo Love Dies Slowly kicks.

For. Freakin. Serious.

The eSlick Has Arrived!!

It has arrived! Holiday-time Ahmed kept wanting to get me the Sony Ebook reader. I resisted, with a serious pinch in my heart. I still don't like the technology, size, and price on that item. Kindle is highway robbery and proprietary. My heart said yes but my soul and brain said NO. Enter the Foxit eSlick Reader... and OMG I am in love!

It's .4 inches thick. It plays MP3s, comes with the wonderful Foxit software that has been free forever, and will convert virtually anything you can read into a PDF file. Text can be adjusted for size. If you buy it before January 31st and enter the promo code pcworld01 it will only be $219.99. Check it out here:

Foxit eSlick Reader

This puppy is simple, streamlined, and weighs less than most paperbacks. It also comes with a 2GB SD card and earphones. Imagine sitting on a long drive to... err, say Nova Scotia... with the earbuds in, your favorite tunes blasting, and Gwen Hayes' Oh Goddess in your lap, making you giggle and sigh. Is there anything sweeter?

Nope. Guess what I want for Valentine's Day?

They Signed Pap!

Well the Sox paid 6.25 million for him, so he better keep dancing his skinny legs off. But how do you NOT love Jonathan Papelbon? You just give in. Resistance is futile, as they say.

Read about the deal HERE.

Enjoy the awesomne Papelbony goodness HERE:

Birthday Weirdness

I have this... well, birthday weirdness thing working in my life. Tell me if this is wacked:

My father and Ahmed both have the same birthday. Our closest friend and one of my aunt's share the following day as birthday.

My mother and Ahmed's mother have the same birthday.

My godson and grandmother have the same birthday.

My very old and close friend Marc and Ahmed's sister have the same birthday.

My goddaughter and best friend from school have the same birthday.

My two closest girlfriends and my youngest brother have two kids each, same ages, birthdays within weeks of one another.

It happens a lot. Not just identical days, but very often I meet people with either my birthdate (May 28) or one that they share with a close friend or family member. Even mutual friends have started getting weirded out by it!

Today is my nephew's birthday and I logged on to his facebook page to discover a Romance Diva I have recently beome hooked on as a fan (Kate Pearce-- GREAT writer!) have the same birthday.

The Angel Bending Over Me

When you spend as much time online as I do you get to know some spectacular people. I met my much-beloved Ahmed via the internet, and wrote online for a wonderful woman named Georgia Jones for many years. I even wrote a book via email with a partner named Elliot Grant years ago. So the interwebs are my friend, and many of my friends are on the interwebs.

Still, the generosity and joy I often find here in cyberspace amazes me. I've tasted the bad. It was worth having a psychotic stalker for years to stick it out. And as my life has changed, this digital world has become more and more important.

A few years ago I had just beaten cancer for the third time when I was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis. It is a disease with no cure, no FDA approved treatment, and it gets very little attention on the world stage of research and development. Most of us diagnosed live fewer than 7 years. PF slowly shrivels the lungs until we strangle to death. There are some promising developments in the distance, but most of us sit on lung transplant lists praying for miracles that won't reach us in time.

I have been lucky. Really, I have. I have a man in my life who is a brilliant physician. I never smoked. I sang and swam a lot in my youth, so I do more with the 2/3 of a lung I have left, functioning, than many people with a lot more. I carry canned oxygen with me, but use it sparingly. I force myself to stay active and positive.

And I have Gwen Hayes, too. The Talmud says that "every blade of grass has its Angel bending over it, whispering grow, grow." Gwen is just such an angel. This month her wonderful release, Oh Goddess, has received rave reviews. But Gwen will not be making money on the title, because she has donated the proceeds from this book to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis.

It would be simple for me to say I love Gwen for doing such a thing. We share some cyber-space together at Fictionistas, and rub shoulders daily at Romance Divas. But her generosity in giving this... the fruit of her soul... to a cause very few people even know of is heart-crushing. She has always been able to make me laugh. She has always been a fun person to know.

But this? Well, suffice it to say we will meet up this March at the New England Romance Writers of America Conference and she may not survive the hug. Poor angel... I may crush those wings to smithereens.

Buy this book. NOT because it will benefit those of us who are literally dying out here. But because it is a funny, wonderful, quick read that will touch your heart. And because Gwen Hayes is going to be a best seller in the very near future. You can say you discovered her ages ago, when she had only just gotten her wings.


Oh Goddess by Gwen Hayes
Read An Excerpt Online
Genre: Paranormal Romance

ISBN: 978-1-60504-367-8
Length: Short Story
Price: 2.50
Publication Date: January 27, 2009
Cover art by Tuesday Dube

*All author and editor proceeds from the sale of Oh Goddess will be donated to the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis. You can find out more about the foundation at www.coalitionforpf.org.

Warning: Recent studies show that consuming beverages while reading this story can cause damage to computer monitors, clothing, and sometimes nearby walls. Reader agrees to hold both Samhain Publishing Ltd. and Gwen Hayes harmless in case of accidental spewing caused by laughter.

*VERY special thanks, too, to Samhain for being a part of this generosity.

Read An Excerpt Online

Savage Exaggeration

In case your head was in a hole for an entire year, there's this thing involving Cassie Edwards being a big, fat, stealing scumbucket that happened in 2008. Since then Ms. Edwards continued to make money off other people's work, didn't apologize, blamed everyone else, and apparently had a massive stroke.

Not being her physician I can't possibly say how massive it was. I do know being a lying dirtbag is not a cause of strokes, nor is getting caught and denying it. I asked Ahmed, though, and he agrees that a mountain-sized guilt complex probably won't help with the stress during recovery. Given Ms. Edwards' habit of exaggerating and lying, I'm sceptical.

Anyway, in case you missed it, some wackjob fan blamed the Smart Bitches who broke the story. Click, enjoy, participate.

Hey, today is my mom and dad's anniversary, too! 49 years. And they didn't steal a second of them.

Angela James at Romance Divas

Angela James, editor extraordinaire, is coming to Romance Divas for a 3 day class on Epublishing! Come join us Jan 13-15 and ask her anything.

Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Epublishing (and some things you didn't know you should know)

Why doesn't epublishing offer advances? What are some of the pros and cons of publishing my manuscript via epublishing? How do I research publishers? Can I really make money in epublishing? What exactly is POD? Can you give me a snappy comeback for people who say that epublishing isn't real publishing?

Epublishing has evolved and grown, especially in the last 5 years, but with growth comes pitfalls and problems, and trusting an epublisher with your baby might seem like a risky proposition. We'll cover the basics of epublishing, from choosing an epublisher and contract details to methods of ebook and print distribution to reasons why you might not want to epublish your manuscript.

Bio:

In 2005, Angela James joined Samhain Publishing, Ltd, a small press company focusing on digital publishing, as its executive editor, where she has played an instrumental role in building the company from the ground up. In her executive position at Samhain, Angela is responsible for managing the publisher's editorial services division. Her responsibilities include the management of editorial staff, quality oversight, networking and marketing efforts at regional, national and international writing conferences to promote the electronic publishing industry as well as Samhain.

In addition to her administrative duties, Angela continues to edit more than 50 authors including national bestselling authors Lucy Monroe, Lilith Saintcrow and Deidre Knight.

Jim Rice Finally Gets His Due

It's way overdue, but finally-- FINALLY!!!-- Jim Rice has been given his due. Today, on the last possible day he was eligible, Rice was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Rice was Boston's power-hitter during a golden age that most likely means little to those who were not faithful during the 70s and 80s. These were great years, but hard years for fans. It was an age of Fred Lynn, Carl Yastrzemski, and Pudge Fisk, true gentlemen of the game. Jim Rice was one of the greats in a time when stats were not a product of steroids. He led the American League in homers three times, hit 300 or better seven times, and was an All-Star eight times. He is the only player in history to post three straight seasons of 35-plus home runs and 200-plus hits. He finished his career with a .298 batting average, 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs, all without chemical enhancement, and with a grace and dignity too often absent today.

Way to go, Jim! We'll lift one at the Cask and Flagon for you tonight!

NECRWA Conference

Are you going? All the cool people are. The New England Chapter of Romance Writers of America is having its conference in March. This year's theme is Let Your Imagination Take Flight. I'll be there with bells on.

I am not a huge RWA person. I was a member for a while and got nothing out of it. But I hear so many people praise their local chapters to the moon that I always wish RWA would let you join your local without belonging to the National group.

For me, this is close to home and pretty inexpensive for non-members (only 10 bucks more). Though Framingham seems an odd choice (home of... err... UMass Framingham and,... um... right next to Natick? err), the hotel is a nice one and pretty convenient to Boston. Although I can think of things more convenient to Boston. Like, umm... Boston.

Anyway, you should go if you write. The place will be crawling with Divas and cool people like me.

CLICK HERE

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Mmmmm Salad

Everyone is being so diligent in their quest to be healthier in the new year. It made me feel guilty, so I'm having a small-- tiny, actualy-- salad today. I love salad.

Granted, it's not just any salad. I have a special salad I like to indulge in on days like today.

Maybe it's the tiny, leafy greens (mint). Maybe the beans added for protein (cocoa beans). Or the oils (cocoa butter and lecithin) that are so good for me. Or perhaps the herbs and other spices (vanilla, for example, also a bean).

But I really, really do love salad... don't you?

SONIC!!

What are you, KIDDING ME??? You can actually play SONIC THE HEDGEHOG on my BLOG???

Nope... not kidding.

The Netbook Revolution

In spite of all the nay-saying that met the first Asus EEE mini, which I only this morning sent off to its new home, netbooks are not going away. Originally they were more commonly known as "mini pc's." First users were intended to be children, but like the Alphasmarts before them, nerds and writers quickly took over and embraced them for new purposes. Before the manufacturer's knew what had happened demand completely shifted focus. We wanted the tiny size but better keyboard, screen, memory.

That original mini was, for me, the first 7 inch Asus EEE with only 512mb and a teenie screen and keyboard. Both the smaller screen and keyboard were fine for me, but I discovered my dependence on the portability grew steadily, and before I knew it I was hungry for more RAM, speed, space, and options. Enter the Lenovo s10 netbook, which was only 2 ounces heavier, but came with a full screen and keyboard, plus a full gig of ram. Not only that, but 180mhz makes this little model blazing fast.

Rated just a hair behind the MSI Wind, largely thought to be the best netbook, I prefer the Lenovo simply because it's light, was very inexpensive, and leaves a smoke-trail behind it that none of my full sized laptops could ever match. If I could redesign it the only features I'd change would be the location of the CTRL key, longer battery life (though it hasn't yet been an issue... we all want batteries to last for 8 hours), and a less smudgy surface. If only they'd had it in pink! I got the only model in my state and it was black.

My baby really does take good care of me. This may be the coolest gift EVER.

Honestly, if you are a writer you need a netbook. Why? It weighs barely more than 2 pounds, so you can sling it into your purse. Ideal for surfing, writing, and light tasks, these little work-horses almost force us to write rather than goof off. They require USB or SD storage, since they have no floppy or CD/DVD drives, also saving space and weight.

For serious... they should come with "best seller in progress" printed across the lid.