January 12, 2007 at approximately 4:00 CST–I received a call that will change my life.

Or at least, it will change the writing part of my life…

Because, that call was from my lurvely agent. And lurvely agent, who I heart with all my inside parts, told me that HarperCollins wanted to make me a two book offer.

I thought she was kidding. I mean, we had been waiting for this news all week and it was Friday afternoon, already 5:00 in NY, so surely she was just joking.

Um. Nope. She wasn’t.

OMG!

HarperCollins? Seriously?

So, here’s a little blurb on the two books:

AJ Ashe isn’t a typical seventeen year old vampire. Her ex-boyfriend is now her stepbrother, who, as it turns out, is also warlock. Her two BFFs are in a huge fight and she’s caught in the
middle. She’s totally framed for cheating on a Lit test. And now, apparently, the fate of humankind lies in her little undead hands. Like that’s fair. What ever happened to the good old days when all a vampire girl had to worry about was the occasional zit and hiding her fetish for necks.

The details that I have now are that the first book won’t be released until December 2008 or Jan 2009 and the follow up will be about six months later. That seems like forever, but it’s a good thing. It gives me plenty of time to produce a quality story.

Now, we writers often dream about what the call means to us. What will we do, what will we think, how we will reward ourselves once it’s all said and done…

My immediate reward was a bottle of Veuve Cliquot. Then we went to dinner. I also made calls to my friends and family and then emailed my various writing groups. Then I took a BC Powder before bed so I wouldn’t wake with a Champagne headache in the morning.

Remember how I said the call changed my writing life? We writers often think that the call will change every part of our lives…but the next morning, I ate a bowl of cold cereal, had to do the dishes, sweep the floor, sort the laundry and go to Wal-Mart. Sounds glamorous, no? Wanna hear something even more glamorous for this soon-to-be-famous-multi-pubbed author? This morning I had to clean up after a sick kid.

Oh yeah. My life has changed. NOT!

While the rest of the country seems to be experiencing winter overload, we here in Oxford, MS seem to be heading right into Spring.

Yesterday it was 75 degrees. Today — 65.

El Nino is having a grand time playing with our minds and our wardrobe.

Oh, well. I’m not complaining. Just think it’s strange that just about the rest of the country is buried in snow, and we’re wearing shorts.

One more thing…

I have some very good news. Very good news. But I’m thinking I’m gonna be a bitch and not tell you exactly what that news is just yet…

While the rest of the country seems to be experiencing winter overload, we here in Oxford, MS seem to be heading right into Spring.

Yesterday it was 75 degrees. Today — 65.

El Nino is having a grand time playing with our minds and our wardrobe.

Oh, well. I’m not complaining. Just think it’s strange that just about the rest of the country is buried in snow, and we’re wearing shorts.

One more thing…

I have some very good news. Very good news. But I’m thinking I’m gonna be a bitch and not tell you exactly what that news is just yet…

As of about 1 minute ago, I am the proud owner of a brand new book.

I was very priveleged to get a chance to read this book before it was published. According to my friend Kate, she even managed to make some improvements on the manuscript after I read it…I’m not sure how that’s possible. I guess I’ll have to find out.

This book is HOT so I wouldn’t recommend sneaking reads at work.

Antonia’s Bargain By Kate Pearce
This book is the stand-alone sequel to Eden’s Pleasure

Since the suicide of his first wife, Gideon has avoided emotional interactions with women in favor of less emotionally draining liaisons with men. When he unmasks “Anthony” Maxwell and finds he is, in fact, Antonia, he is still sexually intrigued enough to want to bed her. A reluctant heiress, Antonia knows she has to marry but she intends to do it on her own terms—her wealth in return for a husband-free bed.

Gideon offers to help her infiltrate the world of the ton dressed as a man so she can see her potential suitors in their natural habitat. In return, she agrees to allow him to teach her every trick in his sexual repertoire as long as he doesn’t take her virginity. Her fear of marriage and pregnancy is a puzzling barrier that Gideon, despite his exceptional skills, finds difficult to penetrate. As they become more scandalously intimate, he has to decide whether to help Antonia face her fears or walk away from the only woman he believes he could ever love.

Reader Advisory: Contains multiple scenes of male and female same-sex erotic interaction.

Buy it here.

As of about 1 minute ago, I am the proud owner of a brand new book.

I was very priveleged to get a chance to read this book before it was published. According to my friend Kate, she even managed to make some improvements on the manuscript after I read it…I’m not sure how that’s possible. I guess I’ll have to find out.

This book is HOT so I wouldn’t recommend sneaking reads at work.

Antonia’s Bargain By Kate Pearce
This book is the stand-alone sequel to Eden’s Pleasure

Since the suicide of his first wife, Gideon has avoided emotional interactions with women in favor of less emotionally draining liaisons with men. When he unmasks “Anthony” Maxwell and finds he is, in fact, Antonia, he is still sexually intrigued enough to want to bed her. A reluctant heiress, Antonia knows she has to marry but she intends to do it on her own terms—her wealth in return for a husband-free bed.

Gideon offers to help her infiltrate the world of the ton dressed as a man so she can see her potential suitors in their natural habitat. In return, she agrees to allow him to teach her every trick in his sexual repertoire as long as he doesn’t take her virginity. Her fear of marriage and pregnancy is a puzzling barrier that Gideon, despite his exceptional skills, finds difficult to penetrate. As they become more scandalously intimate, he has to decide whether to help Antonia face her fears or walk away from the only woman he believes he could ever love.

Reader Advisory: Contains multiple scenes of male and female same-sex erotic interaction.

Buy it here.

I. Can’t. Stop. Watching.

Some favorite things so far:

• Wee Man. I may have a wee crush. Who knew?
• LaToya at the laundrymat. “I can’t get the dollar in.” Um, yeah, that’s because it only takes coins, chica.
• Poncho farting during one of the training sessions.

This show is the scariest kind of awesome.

I. Can’t. Stop. Watching.

Some favorite things so far:

• Wee Man. I may have a wee crush. Who knew?
• LaToya at the laundrymat. “I can’t get the dollar in.” Um, yeah, that’s because it only takes coins, chica.
• Poncho farting during one of the training sessions.

This show is the scariest kind of awesome.

Can 12 year old boys suffer from PMS? Because I’m seriously beginning to think mine is.

This weekend was a roller coaster of ups and downs for the child. We notice it happens more often when he has a friend over–or as we like to call it–an audience.

No matter what we asked him to do, the response was volatile or tear filled.

“Ian, take out the trash please.”

Tears hung precariously to his bottom lid. “Why? Why do I have to do everything!! Can’t you make him (points to brother) do something besides play the crackboy (Ian’s new word for Gameboy)? He never has to do anything when he has friends over.”

Sigh.

“Son, just do it. My God. You’ve spent more time on this production of “The Young and the Useless” than it would’ve taken to just take out the damn trash.”

“UGH! It’s so not fair!”

The crocodile tears were then set free. As they rolled in big balls of angst down his sweet freckled cheek, I wondered to myself if maybe my once sweet, almost 13 year old boy, was actually pre-menstrual. I frantically searched for a bottle of Midol–to no avail.

After his friend left, Ian curled up next to me on the couch and we watched Legally Blonde together. He was his sweet, loving self again. Dr. Jekyl had taken a hike.

Do they make a Pre-Teen Menstrual Syndrome pill and can I buy a case?

Can 12 year old boys suffer from PMS? Because I’m seriously beginning to think mine is.

This weekend was a roller coaster of ups and downs for the child. We notice it happens more often when he has a friend over–or as we like to call it–an audience.

No matter what we asked him to do, the response was volatile or tear filled.

“Ian, take out the trash please.”

Tears hung precariously to his bottom lid. “Why? Why do I have to do everything!! Can’t you make him (points to brother) do something besides play the crackboy (Ian’s new word for Gameboy)? He never has to do anything when he has friends over.”

Sigh.

“Son, just do it. My God. You’ve spent more time on this production of “The Young and the Useless” than it would’ve taken to just take out the damn trash.”

“UGH! It’s so not fair!”

The crocodile tears were then set free. As they rolled in big balls of angst down his sweet freckled cheek, I wondered to myself if maybe my once sweet, almost 13 year old boy, was actually pre-menstrual. I frantically searched for a bottle of Midol–to no avail.

After his friend left, Ian curled up next to me on the couch and we watched Legally Blonde together. He was his sweet, loving self again. Dr. Jekyl had taken a hike.

Do they make a Pre-Teen Menstrual Syndrome pill and can I buy a case?

Here is the sexy Matt Damon doing an impression of the sexy Matt McConaughey that made me laugh out loud. Thank you Andrea for sending this to me first thing in the morning!

Gabrielle wanted to know what reindeer games we played during the holidays. Well, we’re a pretty big board game family. When the kids were younger, we made sure we had “game night” at least once a week. We’ve fallen out of the habit, but I hope we pick it back up again.

Some of our favorites are:

Phase 10 (This is a card game that we love. However, it made it onto the “banned” list for a while because my children are just a wee bit competitive and things became ugly. You see, in this game, you can skip whoever you want to, so imagine how much fun it is to ALWAYS skip your brother…now imagine being that brother. LOL)
Cranium (I SUCK at the humming part. I get so damned tickled I start laughing. Never ask me to be the hummer. And please, get your mind out of the gutter. This is a G rated family blog, thankyouverymuch.)
Sequence
Trivial Pursuit (I am SOOOO angling for TP 80s edition–but I’m afraid the master of all useless knowledge will still kick my ass.)
Scrabble
Yahtzee

These are just a few of the games we play most often.

Now, onto some really good news:

I FINALLY HAVE TIVO! Yes, that’s right…I am now a member of the current century. I had so much fun last night watching Sportscenter. Every time they showed the Boise State winning play highlights I would pause it and watch it in slow mo. Rewind, watch it again. OMG. How awesome is that?

Then I recorded my first show and I’m going to watch it today! YAY ME! And it’s a show I wanted to see but knew I’d never get to cuz it’s on FX! Have y’all see the previews for Dirt? it’s looks pretty interesting.

What’s going on in your world today?