Well its official the EPPIES were given out last weekend and I didn’t win my category, Mystery, Suspense, and/or Adventure Romance. Who did win? Well it was none other than Cast A Pale Shadow by Barbara Scott published by The Wild Rose Press.

Congratulations Barbara!!

To pick up a copy click here

Well the Olympics are over. Is there a part that you loved watching the most? Personally I loved watching the skating, I’m a big skating fan. However it was fun to discover new exciting sports like Squeleton and curling.

I have to say I truly enjoyed watching Clara Hughes win her bronze medal in the 5,000 m women long track. She is a fabulous skater and awesome person. When I grow up I wan tot be just like her. Opps I am the same age as she, but none the less the woman donated $10,000 which was all her savings at the time to Right To Play when she won the gold in 2006 Olympics in Turin.This time around she donated another $10,000 to The Take a Hike Foundation. She is one very generous woman. Now that she is retired I hope she finds happiness and relaxation.

There is one event I had been looking forward to and that was to see Brian McKeever ski in the mad dash of men’s 50km ski. The commercials were promoting his run. Why would his taking part be so important or a big deal? Well Mr. McKeever is legally blind. He would have been the first athlete to compete the Olympics and Paralympics. What an inspiration that would have been. However the Canadian ski coaches decided not to let him take part since he was an alternate. Personally I would have forgone the medal for the attention and inspiration this event would have created it. It would have told the world there are no excuses in life, get off your butt and do something.

Next I’m looking forward to watching the Paralympics.

I have to say that I am sorry that I haven’t been blogging as often as I used to. However now that I am a new partner in Lachesis Publishing I have to put my responsibilities there first which leaves me with little time left. Right now all my free time is being spent watching the Olympics. I have to admit I am loving every minute of it. Vancouver seems to be doing a bang up job.

I have been quiet for the past few weeks for very good reasons. So much has happened in the past few weeks that I don’t know where to begin. Maybe I should start at the beginning. After coming home from the writer’s retreat last month I get the news that my best friend, Carole, has been having big health problems. I’ve known her for over 8 years. We met at a writers group in town here. She was my critique partner for years became then my cheerleader when I opened my own PR firm and once more when I sold my first book to LBF Books. Five years after meeting her she hired me to do her PR for her new publishing company. Then 2 years ago she bought out LBF Books and became my publisher. Without her my book never would have been published.

After hearing her news she offered me something I had never dreamed of doing but loved the challenge none the less. She offered me a full partnership in Lachesis Publishing Inc. After weighing all the pros and cons I decided to take her up on her offer and became a full partner this past month.

Where does that leave my writing and my PR business? I still plan to run my business as I always have, that will never change. As for my writing that has been put on hold for now. For the past few weeks I have been getting organized to include my new duties at Lachesis Publishing without loosing too much sleep. Once I get my duties in line I will put writing back in my schedule. However does this mean that LBF Books will be publishing the next book in the series? To be honest I’m not sure right now. Carole still wants to publish it, but I’m not sure if I want to go the self-pubbing route at this point. So on that front I have a few more pros and cons list to make before I can make a finale decision if Lachesis Publishing will be publishing DEADLY DESIRE or will I start submitting it to other publishers at this point. Right now I’m putting that on hold.

Today I am off to celebrate with my fellow chapter mates everyone’s success in 2009. We have 4 members who sold books and one who sold a novella.

My plan this year had been to sit back and not take on any responsibilities, I mean I’ve been a member for 10 ½ years and always had a volunteer job. Well my sabbatical will have to wait for another year because, I became the assistant to the organizer (who has done a fabulous job) and I’m MCing the whole event. Maybe next year I’ll be able to take it off.

I am hoping to come back with some fabulous prizes.

We are 24 hours away from the announcement of who will carry the Canadian flag during the opening ceremony during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I can’t wait (for the announcement and for the games to begin).

The national media have put forward a few names like Haley Wickenheiser, she plays for the women’s hockey team. Great athlete. Skaters Jeremy Wotherspoon and Clara Hughes would be good athletes to consider. Also there is visually impaired cross-country skier Brian McKeever, he’ll be the first athlete to compete in the both Olympics. What an amazing accomplishment! Good for him. 

That said I do have a favorite. I would love to see Clara Hughes carry the flag. Yes she refused it last time, but that was only because she was to perform within days of the ceremonies. She has not only won tons of winter Olympic medals for Canada in the past, she also won a Bronze medal in the summer Olympics as a cyclist, also this will be her last Olympics. Ms Hughes also does a lot of volunteer work as well. To me she would be the perfect representative for the job.

Until 5:30 pm tomorrow night it’s all speculation.

The concert last night was a total blast. Jann Arden simply rocks! I’m glad my friend Tammy told me she was funny. All I can say is I’m glad I went to the bathroom first. Ms Arden has us in stitches.

She sang all my favourite songs. I have to confess that I can’t remember any of her titles, but once she gets singing I can easily sing along with her since I have all her CDs. I may be put in the category of worst Jann Arden fan as a result. As long as I get to listen to her fabulous music I’m cool with it.

It was truly a great way to end my vacation from my day job. Now I’m back at work and to my routine. So life resumes as normal.

With the exception of getting food poisoning and extending my drive back by 4 hours (2 hours into my drive I realized I left my computer at Hannah’s. I had to go back and get it. Better at 2 hours into it than at the end 7.5 hours) I had a blast at the writing retreat.

Hannah and I were asked by a few to keep them in mind when we did it again next year. Well we already started plotting next years retreat. We’d have one that is more structured with morning workshops to get everyone going and keep the evenings open for eating and gambling.

I’m already knee deep in washing my clothes and getting ready for work on Monday because tomorrow night I’m heading out with a friend to see the talented Jann Arden. I can’t wait.

Day 3 and the last day of our retreat hasn’t been as fun as I had hoped. I got up and completed the character chart for my killer. Boy I found out more about him than I ever thought I would. Will I use it in the book? Nope, most of it is back story that I need to know to write who is now.

Then I went to lunch and thought it was a wonderful meal until an hour later and I didn’t feel so good. Now hours later and a partial soup later I’m feeling just about the same. I’m just hoping I’ll feel better before we leave to go back to Hannah’s tomorrow.

The only positive thing about today is that I wrote 2 full pages. So far I have written 5 pages and discovered who my characters truly were. So all in all it was well worth it. Now I’ll just have to keep up the momentum between my two full time jobs once I get home.

On day 2 of our retreat we woke up late after spending a late night talking about politics (American ones for the most part) and history. Now the history part I thought was fabulous since I hadn’t learned what we talked about.

Today we did a workshop this afternoon (because none of us had any brain function until then) on Characterization. I still have an hour before we meet up with Judy’s friends for dinner where we’ll talk about writing and have a blast. Then I hope to get a little writing in before I call it a night.

So far we have had 3 people ask us to do it again next year and include them in the planning. This retreat looks like it might be an annual thing. Do I mind? Not one bit.