The Dynamic Trio - Blog

I’m a bit late with my post today since I’ve been out on the town doing last minute chores and getting my hair cut. Conversation this week at Munro house has centered on packing and what things we’re taking with us on our trip. Packing for both the conference and six weeks of holiday comes with challenges. I’m definitely not gonna be a fashion icon.

It’s also been a busy month writing wise. I’ve completed edits on Tea for Two, my first Samhain release, which is out in October. I’ve also completed edits on Cat Burglar (another Middlemarch story) and Fringe Benefits - a threesome Quickie. Not that the lovin’ is quick. It’s a Quickie title. I’m waiting for release dates on the two EC stories and once I have those I’ll update my website with excerpts and blurbs.

Assassin, book four, in the Middlemarch series is out on 6 August. I hope you’ll enjoy this story since it ties up all the lose ends in the story arc.

Don’t forget to enter the Hussies Summer Sizzler contest. The link is on my website.

I’m spending the rest of the afternoon packing and doing small odds and ends. It’s pouring with rain, in fact, we have bad weather heading our way. They say it’s going to be the worst storm to hit New Zealand in a decade - a real weather bomb - so it seems as if hanging around inside is the way to go.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Are you doing anything exciting?

We’re in the airport on the way home. Even with our flight delayed I couldn’t be happier to be on my way back to Colorado. And it’s not because I think Colorado is so fabulous (can’t stand the place) but…MY BED IS THERE! I totally loved vacation but there’s no place like your own home, your own bed, your own bathroom, your own kitchen, etc.

I saw that Lauren has a new book called FATED - be sure to pick it up. The Cascadia Series rocks! Shelley also has some pretty cool things hitting the shelves, too. I love her Middlemarch Mates series.

And for me, it’s 5 days and counting until HATSEPT HEAT, Vampire Council of Ethics Book 3 comes along! Can’t wait!!!

My plane will be boarding shorly, so I’m off to gather all my crap together. I pack like I”m going on a month-long trip or something - geesh, who needs so many clothes for a one week trip? Anyway, catch ya’ll later ;D

TJ

So for those of you who enjoy my Cascadia Wolves, there’s a new book coming out called Fated. This one is Megan getting her HEA at long last. I love fated mate stories but they can’t all be the same or it gets boring. So what happens if you get your fated mate but it’s not easy? What happens if a proud and powerful werewolf mates with a man who has hidden from what he truly is for most of his life?

Blurby Bit: Just because Fate brings you your perfect mate doesn’t mean it’ll be easy.

Could there be any worse fate than a road trip from Seattle to L.A.—with one’s mother—to attend a wedding? Why yes, when one isn’t married yet, like Megan Warden. Toss in a grandmother and a carload of already married sisters and it’s a recipe for sneaking sips of “special” coffee while someone else drives.

Shane Rosario has better things to do than attend a wedding where his father’s relatives will be at him nonstop about getting married and having children. If it weren’t for seeing his anchor bond, Layla, he’d have taken a pass on the entire weekend. It would be easy, since he’s become adept at hiding who and what he is.

When the two weren’t even looking, Fate steps in and before they know it, their bond is sealed. Bonded pair, married in the eyes of their people. Two people tied together in every way. Trouble is, Shane’s not sure he wants all that comes with Megan. And Megan’s certain she’s not willing to live outside her pack, pretending to be human.

The distance between them is more than geographical. It’s a widening gulf rapidly filling with resentment…an emotional divide only acceptance could bridge. Can Shane can accept himself to cross it? Only if they let love take control.

I loved writing Fated. It was a challenge because it was emotional and I did spend some time crying as I wrote it. But I hope it turned out well and I hope you all enjoy it too.

I received my author copies earlier this week so I thought a contest might be in order. SO - if you’d like to win an ARC of Fated all you need to do is tell me why you like fated mate stories, or why you don’t.

I’ll choose a winner at random from the comments Friday July 25 at noon pacific. Good luck!

WINNER IS COMMENTER #5 - Tracy Lenz-Pessin! Tracy email me with your format choice and I’ll email it your way ASAP!!

With Hatsept Heat coming on Tuesday, needless to say I went to sleep thinking about it. And after waking from the most delicious and decadent dream of me and a vamp right out of the pages of one of my Vampire Council of Ethics books, I rolled over in appreciation of air conditioning and thought…what the hell was I thinking to book a vacation in Florida in July? My god, it’s so freakin’ hot here I swear I’m tempted to put ice down my drawers just to cool off a bit.

Unfortunately my daughter got sick yesterday. We think it’s something she ate the day before, but he poor thing was throwing up and had a high fever. I’m glad she’s cool this morning because last night she was so hot I was concerned we’d have to take her to a hospital, which is no fun when you’re AT home, let alone AWAY from home in a city you’re not familiar with.

I’m getting ready to run to the airport to pick up a friend of mine I haven’t seen in years. She’s lives on this coast in South Carolina so she’s flying down to hang out with us for a couple of days. My kids are WAY excited to see her again. If I can talk her into taking some picture I’ll put them up when I get home. Oh, and want to hear the dumbest thing ever? We’re on vacation and NONE of us brought a camera, so we’re reduced to using the ones on our phones. LOL!

See you later,

TJ

PS - Thank you to all of you who sent me notes after reading the TJ On A Tangent newsletter. This has been a really challenging half-a-year for me. I’m looking forward to the second half with some serious renewed hope ;D

I saw this article yesterday, linked from Melissa Lopez’ livejournal: Writer’s Digest - Don’t Be A Writing Diva
It’s all solid advice - hone your voice, turn in your manuscript on time or early, send thank yous, think before you hit send, be careful how you criticize, continue to learn your craft, etc.

This is a career, a job, how you act leads into how you’re perceived. It’s important to put out there the face you want people to see and associate with you as an author and as my mom would say, “It never hurts to say thank you.”

And crossposted from Bring Me My Hookah

I’ve been thinking about handshakes today because I’ll be meeting people at the conference I’m attending and figure there will probably be a little handshaking along the way.

It’s said the handshake originated during Medieval times when men started to shake hands to show they weren’t carrying weapons. These days handshakes are a courtesy thing. They’re a polite way of greeting a new acquaintance and, like all things related to body language, we’ve come to judge people on their handshakes.

I bet we’ve all experienced the limp handshake, the tight squeeze handshake or the sweaty palm one. There’s also the four finger shake where people grasp your fingers and don’t grip your entire hand. I decided to do a little research because we all want to make a good impression.

This is the correct way to shake hands.

1. Extend your right hand.

2. Point your thumb upward and extend your arm slightly downward.

3. When thumbs meet wrap your hand around the other persons hand.

4. Grasp the hand firmly and squeeze once. Remember no limpness or squeezing contests!

5. Hold the shake for two to three seconds. You can pump the hand up and down. (This is meant to convey sincerity)

Notes - maintain eye contact during the handshake and remember that in some cultures a handshake isn’t the done thing. Research ahead of time.

I’ve noticed in my own handshaking experiences that some women don’t shake hands. To me this is weird. I shake hands with both men and women. I’ve also noticed that offering a hand to shake sometimes throws a male.

What do you think about handshaking? Do you have any tips to add? Any thoughts on the subject?

Every day I take our little dog for a walk, and we’re both a source of amusement to everyone who sees us. I have no idea why. I mean a writer and a dog going for a walk shouldn’t provoke smiles. Scotty is 14, almost 15 now. We used to go for a walk morning and night. These days we’re guided by her enthusiasm. I go out armed with my iPod, lead and doggie-do bags. We walk reeeeaaaly slow, but no matter how slowly I walk I end up with the extension lead at full stretch and Scotty dragging her paws. Some days are good ones and she surprises me with a brisk trot, but those days are few and far between. I try to jam my impatience away because she is old and she loves to check her pee-mail. The vets says a walk is good for her, and I agree, being of the use it or lose it school of thought. Once we hit the reserve I let her off the lead and walk ahead, pausing to wait for her while bopping to my ipod. It’s okay to look silly cause it’s during the middle of the day and most people are at work.

This week I lost Scotty.

She’s totally deaf and her vision seems to be going. Sometimes she has a senior moment and loses me. She panics and for an old dog has a real turn of speed. Anyway, when I couldn’t find her, I panicked. I imagined her running in front of a car, but I couldn’t see her.

When I told my husband, I said to him, “I ran here. I ran there. I couldn’t find her anywhere.”

It’s true. I channeled Dr. Suess with a lot of running here and there. I ripped off my iPod and luckily, I heard the tiny tinkle her dogbone name tag makes. I called in my high-toned shout of panic and she appeared from some bushes, wet to her belly and eating something. Jeesh! Color me relieved. Since then I’ve kept her in sight at all times. For an old dog she has pace when it suits her.

I’m working on my sci-fi romance at the moment, doing tweaks and polishing a partial and synopsis. I’ve had this story simmering in my head for years. I’m worried that I’m not going to do the idea justice. Does anyone else have this sort of worry? I’m forging ahead, trying not to second-guess myself too much. I figure I have to write it sometime. That time is now…

First, just a reminder that TJ On A Tanger is going out on Tuesday with all new content, including an excerpt from CARAMEL KISSES that’s not even up on my website yet.

Now…to what’s new in my world: Not much ;D

Not much happening today. My kids had a friend spend the night last night, and since they’re older I didn’t have to do anything other than hand over my credit card so they could order enough pizza and soda to choke a hippo. This morning we got up and went to the Egg and I. Do you have one of those franchises in your town? I LOVE The Egg and I. It feels like you went to have breakfast at your favorite aunt’s house. I used to like going to the Cracker Barrel for Sunday breakfast, but it’s not as down-homey. The food is, but the atmosphere isn’t - too big inside. More warehouse-like than Aunt Mary’s kitchen-n-comfort, you know?

After breakfast (which didn’t happen until after noon sometime) my kid’s friend drove to their destination and we came on home. Within ten minutes of walking into our house I had the kids pulling weeds - boy did THAT go over well! ROFL!

And now I’m sitting upstairs typing this blog entry and ready to throw my brand new laptop up against the wall! It’s got this Microsoft Vista crap on it, and the damned thing installed some updates, then restarted the machine BY ITSELF! It didn’t even give me an option of restarting later. Nooo-ho-ho, the thing did it’s own thing which means I’m pissed because I lost what I was working on. Including this blog post which I’ve now had to type twice.

I am getting excited about vacation next week. We’re heading back to Florida - God, I must have been crazy booking a vacation in Florida in the middle of July. I’m going to be nothing but a big melted puddle of woman. And not in the sexy “Oh baby” way, either.

But for now, it’s Sunday and I’m chillin’ - going to play WarCraft! Wooo! Then I’ll get some writing in on Niah’s Pryde (well, that’s what it’s called for now, anyway).

Periodically new ideas with promo potential come along. Twitter is one of the latest things around. So what is Twitter, you ask? Basically it’s a tiny blog that you update throughout the day. When I say tiny I mean a small, since 140 characters is the maximum amount you can write in each post. The idea is to twitter several times a day to let your friends, family and co-workers know what you’re doing.

Here’s a video that explains everything:

I haven’t signed up yet but thought I would once I return home from my holiday. I’ve had a brainwave - a way to use Twitter for promo, so it will be interesting to see if it works. You can find Twitter here.

Do you Twitter?

I’m just curious how many people have tried a dating site. I know I’ve talked to at least two or three personal friends who met their husbands through Match.com. I’d love to know what the experience was like for anyone who’s tried dating this way.

I checked into eHarmony but, uh, they rejected me. Can you believe they actually said that I’m too nice and so balanced that people tend to think I’m too good to be true, so they couldn’t possibly match a person like me. Now is that ri-damned-diculous or what? LOL!

I’m actually considering a service called “It’s Just Lunch” because frankly I haven’t dated in so long I don’t even know where to go to meet a quality person, let alone find a date. Gah, I had no idea how expensive it could be to get someone to match you up to have coffee with a person! And even though I’m not looking for a husband (dinner and a movie suits me just fine, thank you) do I really want to pay to be set up? On the other hand, if I want to meet someone that I don’t mind actually being in the same room with, perhaps paying is the way to go?

What do you think? By the way, here’s some facts from the It’s Just Lunch website. Some of ‘em are interesting. Take number 6 for example. It this is true, they sure don’t seem to be in Colorado!:

1) 11: The number of single friends the average 27 year old has.

2) 76% of Men: Prefer brunettes over blondes.

3) Wednesday: The best day for a first date according to 41% of singles.

4) One Hour: The time it takes for a woman to determine whether or not she wants to see a man again.

5) 15 Minutes: The time it takes for a man to determine whether or not he wants to see a woman again.

6) 110 Million: The number of single adults in the United States.

7) 43% of Singles: Have Googled someone on the internet before their date.