Time Flies

Happy April Fool’s Day. Which makes no sense whatsoever really. Who wants to be made a fool of? Meh. April Fool’s Day isn’t a big deal for my family since they prank each other all the time. This is just a blip on their radar.

No, I’m going to talk about how fast time is flying. Because really, I can’t be the only one who realized we’re in April. Already. Already! It seems just like yesterday we were celebrating making it through the Mayan End of Days and we’re now in the fourth month of 2013. FOURTH! Am I the only one having trouble wrapping their mind around this?

I had such huge plans when 2013 started. I had eight, or was it ten, books planned for the year. Do you know how many I’ve written since the start of the year? Two very short stories. I’m close to finishing the third, but hello. Eight, or ten, stories a year means I’d have to write a story every month and a half. And they can’t all be under 10k words. No, they have to be more than that. But the one I’m trying to finish now is testing me. Oh those sneaky characters!

For those of y’all wondering, yes, I am working on the third book in the Cajun Heat series. It’s tentatively called Primal Flavor and it’s about that bad boy chef and baker, Zach Trahan. And let me tell y’all, he’s tested my patience. What was supposed to be a quick, hot read has turned into an emotional mess. I didn’t even know Zach had all of these feelings, but he’s surprised not only me, but also his heroine. This story has surpassed the previous two Cajun Heat books in word count and it doesn’t seem ready to stop yet. However, I’m almost positive I can get it finished this week. So that’s one more book down for the count.

Should be a major yay, right? Hmph.

Finishing Primal Flavor only means I have eight months to write the fourth book in the series, two contemporary romances I’ve got planned for a series, another short story or two (an exokita and a spoof), a sci-fi I can barely wait to get my hands on again, possibly another paranormal (a spin off from the Cajun Heat series), and a contemporary romance I have a title for, but no story yet. Yes, I do come up with titles first sometimes. It just happens that way. And don’t even get me started on all the plot bunnies that popped into mind yesterday while I was at the zoo. Mais, it’s enough to make me crazy.

I have to buckle down, so it’s probably a good thing we don’t have anymore holidays coming up for a few months. Okay, okay s there’ll be a whole week I won’t write because I’ll be at RT, but after that…it’s on! And that means the next time I lift my head from the grindstone, it’ll be October and I’ll be in Ohio for RomantiCon. Right?

How about y’all? Has time been flying for you? Or do you feel like a kid again and the days keep dragging?

The Great Swag Scramble

Sorry for being such a downer yesterday! I swear, I’m not normally that woe-is-me. Or at least I try not to be.

Anyway, sometime yesterday morning I realized we’re nearing RT. Sure, sure, we still have fifty-three days and all, but really…that isn’t enough time when you have things to do! Like me. Oh man, I have things to do. I have clothes to buy and outfits to figure out. I have my hair to fix and get all awesome (you know I have to get something special for this convention, right?). 

Then I have to start figuring out what kind of costume I’m wearing for the Ellora’s Cave Disco party. Meh…I want comfortable so I’m thinking I’ll wear jeans and a vintage style t-shirt with like Orange Crush on it or something and go all Farrah Fawcett on my hair. *flips it over her shoulders and lets it blow in the imaginary breeze* So that’s one outfit. I think. I have to get dressy clothes *mutters* and things to wear the rest of the time. Jeans are good the entire time, right? It isn’t like I’m important or anything…maybe I can get one of those massive, floor-sweeping skirts so I can pretend I’m girly.

Oh and I have to get swag. Swag is perhaps the most important part of a convention for an author after their wardrobe. The swag readers pick up at a convention is something they’ll (hopefully) have for several weeks, months maybe even years afterward. It’s the hope of the author that once the conference is over the reader will utilize the swag and think of the author and her books. I’ve had Romance Trading Cards (which I’ll have this time around as well). I’ve had guitar key chains and sewing kits (for Primal Song and Primal Design). This time, I’m going to try other objects that have my logo on them like the header at the top of this page. Nothing too suggestive, just my name and info. I think. I might need to see if they can put my website on the items I chose.

But the point of this is, I spent several weeks wondering what I was going to get for this convention. If I was pimping out a book, I’d choose something from the book for the theme, but since I’m pimping myself as an author…it’s a little more difficult. I mean, I want this to be stuff people want to keep, but I don’t want something too bulky either. *sigh* Ah well. I’ll probably change my mind a few million times between now and the deadline to get items.

Oh! If you’re not going to RT, but want to be a “part” of the experience, RT and ARe are teaming up to give readers a chance to participate from home. Click on the Book Expo button on the right sidebar for details.

What conferences are you going to this year?

They’re Over

I’m not an athletic person, but I love to watch sports. The Olympics, Summer and Winter, are like Heaven for me. I’ve spent the last two weeks glued to the television as much as possible, watching as many events as I could and now they’re over.

*sniff* I’m sad, although I will say London put on one hell of a closing ceremony. I loved it. Of course, they played some of my favorite songs. If I cried while John Lennon’s “Imagine” was playing, that’s because I’m a sap. I sang along with Russell Brand and the Kaiser Chiefs who did a great remake of “Pinball Wizard”. I jammed out with George Michael and did a little sofa techno dancing when Fat Boy Slim popped up.

But it was this moment that I think I enjoyed the most:

I love Monty Python and was thinking right before this performance, “Why aren’t they doing anything by the guys? They’re as British as they come!” and then Eric Idle falls out of the cannon with “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. I was whistling and singing along. My cat didn’t appreciate it at all.

I can’t remember enjoying an Olympics as much as I did this one. From our amazing athletes to the inspirational stories of these hard-working Olympians, I’ve never appreciated a summer games more. And no, I didn’t spend the entire time ogling the male athletes. I did actually watch the events.

Did you watch the games or were you inconvenienced by them? What was your favorite story?

Admiration, I Haz It.

The Olympics are here, the Olympics are here!

Sorry. I’m a little late announcing that, but I was too busy ogling my fantasy man last Friday to mention it. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been glued to the television all weekend. Friday night’s opening ceremony was great. I loved the way they made the history of England a massive stage production, incorporating England’s most famous authors, musicians, and historical figures. It was fantastic.

I also loved watching the parade of countries. My nephew and I were playing a game to see who could probably guess what sport each country’s flag bearer played. I was right most of the time. *buffs her nails* I also loved watching their excitement. Is there anything more amazing than representing your country in a battle for the medal? Each athlete is an ambassador to the world and they all looked thrilled to be there.

I’m not an athletic person. The closest I ever came to playing a sport was trying out for softball when I was in 8th grade. I didn’t make the team. I was a band nerd. That’s okay though. I’m not into running. *shudders* But I still admire people who push their bodies to the limits, who test their skills against others.

So yes, I watched swimming (even though I can’t swim), diving, water polo, and gymnastics this weekend. Was I the only one admiring the male swimmers’ physiques? I couldn’t have been. Oh and not just them but the men’s gymnastics teams. Hello, Louis Smith of Great Britain, it was lovely watching you flex and twist. What can I say? I’m an erotic romance author. Of course I’m going to notice those lean, muscular young bodies exerting themselves. Heh.

I’m an equal opportunity cheering section. While I will cheer on the Americans, I found myself cheering on Rebecca Addlington in the hopes she’d bring home the gold. The American, Allison Schmit won the silver, but I really wanted Rebecca to win gold for the Brits. It seemed fitting to me that she do something that amazing with her country hosting the Olympics. Hopefully she’ll carry it home with the 800m freestyle.

See? Normally I don’t watch things like swimming or gymnastics, but when it comes to the Olympics, I watch nearly everything. I can’t tear myself away. I’ve been this way since 1984 when the Olympics were held in Los Angeles. I was eight years old and I dreamed of being like Mary Lou Retton. That never happened, but I’ve been addicted to the games ever since.

I’m going to lose a lot of sleep over the next two weeks from the games playing. And my book coming out this Friday, but that’s okay. Sleep is overrated. Not really, but I’m sure if I drink enough coffee during the day, I’ll start to actually believe it.

What are some of your favorite summer Olympic events?

Leave the Hat On Please

Today I’m over at Ramblings of a Chaotic Mind talking about something very weird I’ve seen while on Bourbon Street. Comment to win a copy of You Bet Your Banshee!

Continuing this month’s theme of stripping/dancing/taking off clothes, we have something in a slightly different genre.

For those of you who’ve never seen The Full Monty, you’re missing out. It’s one of those movies I will watch over and over again, not just because it’s cute and funny and British, but because it’s a good story.

For those of you who have seen the movie, you can probably guess what today’s song is. Yup, it’s “You Can Leave Your Hat On” by Tom Jones. This song was originally written and performed by Randy Newman and covered several times. I’m not playing the Joe Cocker version because I always feel like poor Joe is about to have an aneurysm when he sings. I think Tom Jones’ version is smooth and sexy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good quality video of this version, so you’ll have to make do with very bad graphics.

Enjoy!

Cajun French: Do-Do

It’s been a while since I did a Cajun French post, but I’ve been gathering information again so hopefully there will be more.

Today’s phrase is do-do (pronounced doe-doe). It means “sleep-sleep”. Remember what I said about the Cajun French/English language and intensifiers? Well, this sort of falls into the same category. I imagine anything could be an intensifier depending on how it’s used. A Cajun comedian who goes by the name of Poo-Poo Broussard is a little infamous for his phrase “My lips are chapped, chapped”. If you’re in the need for a little laughter, you should check him out.

Do-do though, is short for dormir which means sleep. Parents would tell their children, “Make do-do” or “go to sleep”.

You’ve probably also heard this word used in the phrase fais do-do which isn’t the same thing really. A fais do-do is a party, or like an informal jam session in today’s terms. People, probably extended family, would gather around, play music, dance, and eat. My own personal belief is that it was called a fais do-do because it was what adults would do while their children were sleeping.

There’s also a song called “Fais Do-do”which is a lullaby. I don’t know the words except for a few, but it’s one my mom used to sing to us when we were young. When holding babies now, it’s almost second nature to hum the “Fais Do-do” song to them.

I hope this post didn’t make y’all go do-do cause that would just be embarrassing.

Yay for the upcoming weekend! I have a book release Monday and good news on the way so I’m definitely not going to be making the do-do easily.

Cajun Music vs. Zydeco

I got the idea for this post from a discussion on Four Foxes One Hound, the group blog I’m part of and thought it would be a fun way to show the differences between Cajun music and Zydeco.

According to a site I found, Cajun music comes from the Acadians who were forced to leave Canada. It borrows some from Creoles of African descent, country and western, and in some cases, rhythm and blues. It’s a mishmash of genres. From what I gather (since I don’t speak Cajun French), most of the songs center around ill-fated love, death, and loneliness.

This Cajun French song is called”Jolie Blon”, or pretty blonde.

Zydeco is not Cajun music in origin. It was created by the Creoles of African descent who borrowed elements of Cajun music. They kind of copied off each other, pretty much which is kind of funny and probably why people get the two confused.

Zydeco became more popular after WWII and was heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and jazz. It’s considered party music now, but like most songs in the R&B genre, the songs were about hardship.

The song I’ll play for the Zydeco side is by Buckwheat Zydeco called “Tee Nah Nah”.

The major difference I find between these two similar genres is the instrumentation. Zydeco uses the accordion and washboard, while Cajun music relies heavily on the accordion, fiddle, bass, and drums.

What do you think? Can you tell the difference? Which one do you prefer? I’m partial to Cajun music, myself. It’s the perfect music to listen to when I’m going fishing or sitting on my porch.

Road Trip Part Three

This is the last of the road trip pictures from weekend before last. I haven’t posted half of what we saw because there just isn’t enough time on the blog, but needless to say the trip was well worth the time.

We left Donaldsonville and headed further north, taking roads neither of us had ever been on before. My mom used to drive truck so there’s a lot of the state she’s seen and it’s a major bonus to find a place she’s never been before.

Passing through the town of White Castle, we took a gorgeous picture of Nottoway Plantation. I’ve been to this plantation years ago and it looks like they’ve added to it. Gorgeous, huh? Ghost Lab did a paranormal investigation of this property a couple of years ago and I want to say they did find evidence of unexplained activity.

Next we found Tally-Ho Plantation in Bayou Goula which is a private owned residence. The house here was once the overseer’s home because the plantation burned down in 1945. It’s a gorgeous house, I think.

Somewhere in the Bayou Goula area (I can’t remember exactly where now), we stumbled across this little church. It was so unexpected, I stopped in the middle of the road so we could get a picture of it. This 8′x8′ church was built in 1903 by a poor sugar can farmer after he successfully prayed to the Virgin Mary for the recovery of his eldest son. Cool, huh?

Then we found our way up to Plaquemine, Louisiana. Plaquemine was settled as early as 1775. There are a lot of old homes in the downtown area and we managed to snag a couple of pictures. It isn’t so easy to stop in this area since the area is so busy. I was able to pull over so Mom could hop out and get this picture.

From there, we went up and around in what seemed like a never-ending loop until we ended up on the Morganza. The Morganza Spillway is where the flood control structure between the Mississippi River and the Atchafalaya River is located. If you recall last year with the flooding of the Mississippi, this area was creating national headlines as it’s the only thing that protected the lower Louisiana parishes from flooding completely. We couldn’t get out to take a picture, but we got one from the road on top of the flood gates.

And that’s the trip. It was a lot of fun. We went north following one river (the Mississippi) and came back home following another (the Atchafalaya). If you ever get the chance to visit south Louisiana, try to take some time out to explore the smaller areas. There’s beauty in nearly every corner of the state and we’d love to show it to you!

Road Trip Part Two

Yesterday I talked about the start of our little road trip. Today I’m continuing with some really great pictures. We left the Sunshine Bridge behind and headed for Donaldsonville.

Acadians first began to settle in Donaldsonville in 1765. It was called something else back then, but in 1806, William Donaldson commissioned an architect to build the town. We took a few pictures of the buildings and homes found in and around the area.

This was a great old house we saw on our way into town. It needs a lot of loving, tender care and money to make it a showplace again.

Next on our pictorial tour is the Bank of Ascension. Donaldsonville is the parish seat of Ascension Parish and at one time served as the state capital when New Orleans was deemed “too noisy”. I just loved this building so much and could’ve spent hours staring at it, but Donaldsonville has lots of other buildings to ogle.

This building was the home of the oldest family-oriented department store in the state of Louisiana, B. Lemann & Brothers. This building was built circa 1877, but the department store seems to have been in operation since 1836. It’s now closed to the public, but it’s pretty darn nice!

This is a row of shotgun houses. We had to take this picture because I was reminded of New Orleans. The houses aren’t as fancy as those in the French Quarter, but you can tell they’re old and I think they look cute.

I’m not sure what this building is now, but we think it was probably some kind of store at one time. Maybe it was even a boarding house or something. The bus parked in front of it makes me think it’s either empty, or used for some after school programs or something. It looks like it was taken straight out of the French Quarter.

Now this old building had to have been a general store. Look at that steep roof. This one is no longer used as far as we could see, which seems like a shame.

The funny thing is most of these buildings aren’t even listed as having historical significance with the exception of the B. Lemann & Brothers building. There’s so much to see in this area, we probably could have spent a week in the area and found something new each time.

Stay tuned, I’ll be back Thursday with more pictures!

Road Trip: Part One

I love to roder. Yesterday, with the sun shining brightly and it not being too hot, I kidnapped my mom and hit the road for a little sightseeing. She didn’t complain at all. She grabbed her camera and was ready before I was.

It’s funny really. I had no idea where we were going. That’s the best part of rodering, traveling without any destination in mind. At first, I thought we’d just explore River Road (the highway that follows the Mississippi River), but we ended up doing a lot more than that. In fact, we did so much and took so many pictures, I’m going to do this first road trip in parts. Yes, I said first because we decided we’re going to try to do this once or twice a month.

We headed east from our house, driving through the small communities of Choupic (pronounced shoe-pick), Chackbay, and Vacherie (vash-a-ree) to get to River Road.

This is a sugar mill we passed on our way to Choupic. Sugar cane is one of Louisiana’s endangered industries. At one time, there were more sugar cane fields than neighborhoods, but over the years, more land is sold for development. Sugar cane mills are slowly going out of business due to population growth and imported sugar. 

Then we were in the community of Choupic and Chackbay. Every year they have a Gumbo Festival, but I think we missed it.

 

 

 

 

It’s a pretty area with lots of traditional Acadian style homes and cypress trees.

 

 

If you ever get the chance to visit the area, you should take the back roads since they provide you with plenty of things to see.

 

 

Next we headed for River Road, which as most people know is where the big plantation homes are. We didn’t do any tours, but we did take as many pictures of the homes, public and private, as we could.

We actually passed on taking a picture of Oak Alley Plantation since they were having their festival and a race. The traffic wouldn’t allow for a stop and shoot (of the photographic kind). I think Oak Alley is popular enough though, that you’re not missing out.

This is, I believe, St. Joseph Plantation. This home is just before Oak Alley if you’re coming from the south. Apparently the home is still part of an active sugar cane farm and tours are available.

We followed River Road for several miles before taking a small break at the foot of the Sunshine Bridge. The Sunshine Bridge, named for Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis, was the only bridge across the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, it emptied into a swamp. I remember one of my college professors telling us that before the Sunshine Bridge was built, the East bank of the Mississippi didn’t have Nutria Rats.

This is a nutria rat. No, we didn't see any on our trip.

We got back on River Road and wound our way along the crooked Mississippi, leaving the Sunshine Bridge far behind us. Except when we got about ten miles down the road, we looked back and saw this:

It just goes to show how winding the Mississippi River is.

So that’s the first part of our road trip. I have several more pictures during our trip to Donaldsonville, Louisiana and further north, but I don’t want to crash anyone’s machine. I’ll pick up the story again tomorrow.

Hope you’ll stop by to see more pictures!