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Man alive, I'm jacked about all the neat stuff happening with my writing career this week. I'm in the home stretch for Love Bites. It's coming out a week from today. If you want autographed copies of Love Bites, please email me  Margie_church@yahoo.com. I don't have pricing yet and I believe availability will be sometime in late July or early August.

In the meantime, I got a lot of work done on the sequel, Dangerous Love. I've got the characters well-defined and I finally came up with a name for the Master Prophet: Dirk. I don't know why I was having so much trouble with his name and I was asking everyone on Facebook to chime in and then, wham, it came to me. Dirk became a shape shifter when he was killed as a pirate in the 1800s. He's a nasty creature with fewer morals than an earthworm. Between him and that crazy vampire, Ladislov Husek, there's going to be a serious contest for the Sick and Twisted crown. In the middle of all their evil shenanigans will be lovers Jui and Wade, who are desperately trying to keep Jui from being turned into a vampire. A new vamp in stiletto heels, Tori, has a thirst for blood and blackmail. Poor Wade has his hands full. Subscribe to my blog to get progress reports on Dangerous Love.

Also yesterday, I got the illustrations for my children's book. Now I don't have a problem yacking about that on this blog but you better believe I won't be talking about my adult books on my new website for children's books. First Spring will debut on my new website and I'll post the link as soon as it's up.

What else!!? I organized a fan fiction challenge. Ten writers have thrown their pens in the ring to write 10k words minimum. It's all for fun and I'm having a blast with this. I love writing fan fiction between more serious work. Frees my mind. Stories are due August 1.

Driving in this morning, I came up with a YA (Young Adult) story. Noble Romance is starting a YA line and maybe this will work well for them.If you're an author, click on  the Noble badge to learn more. Did I tell you writing fan fics gets my muse out of the box? LOL

Lastly, I picked up a slug of magazine features this afternoon. I adore feature writing. These are for my favorite New Orleans commercial contractor – McDonnel Construction. What a great company and great group of people they have. My clients always inspire me to reach higher goals.

Looking over this list I add a marketing plan. I'm a writing fool and never happier.

Happy belated Father's Day to all you dads, dads to be, and dad wanna bees. My memory is pretty foggy when it comes to my dad. It is what it is. It ended well between us.

Until the next time.

Margie

Sometimes life presents opportunities. You ever get one of those – where you've sat there drooling or sweating over the chance of a lifetime…you're paralyzed by the idea of taking a step, opening your mind, expressing your opinion, taking a chance? I've had a few of these in the past few weeks. I found myself positively giddy at times and at others, filled with dread – fear like sawdust filled my mouth.

The Internet is a great place to hide. You can create an identity defined by your own words. Pick an avatar of somebody better looking than you. Fill your profiles full of bull pucky. And then one day reality stares you in the face and all those people you've been talking to online are going to get a chance to look you in the eye and figure out whether you've been honest. The experience was unnerving, invigorating, and freeing. I stood toe to toe with a man who makes my heart pound like a wild stallion every time I've seen him. I met someone I think is so beautiful and marvelous. She was so gracious to me-exactly how I'd always thought she'd be. I introduced myself to a writer I really admire and he looked at me over his glasses, through his bushy eyebrows and beatnik hair and said, thank you, and walked away. I embraced the friendship strangers offered.  Afterward, I was shaking like a leaf and awestruck but really proud of myself for getting through it with a smile and with grace.

My porridge, oftentimes Redneck, Midwest upbringing can leave me slack-jawed sometimes. It's not every day I leave a pool party and come face to face with cross-dressing men but I think I managed a pleasant hello and moved on. However, the unsupervised youngsters in the hotel lobby had me wondering, where are your mothers? I guess some old habits die hard.

I volunteered to do two things I've been dying to try but sat back for all the wrong reasons, for far too long. And now my signature is on the dotted line and I'll give these new adventures a whirl. I bet it'll be fine just because there'll be a lot of others there who, like me, think "I could never do that."

I blogged at Michele 'n Jeff's Blogspot this week. Check it out. It's the most in-depth interview I've ever done and it took me hours to formulate the answers to their questions. They also reviewed Awakening Allaire – my debut novel. It was pretty happy with their rating but really happy with the review. It said I accomplished what I wanted to with that book.

My point really is that carpe diem has never meant more to me. My life has been filled with downturns, disappointments, and drama. I've struggled to find my place and now I wonder why. Because I'm thinking I've been here all along and just didn't accept it. Life is challenging when your personality or life circumstances don't make you part of the "regular" crowd. Finally, when my life is more than half over, I'm fine with who I am and I'm through wasting time on people, ideas, and things that try to force this square block in a round hole. I cherish the paths we walked on together but I put my comfy leather loafers away. Will you?



Until the next time.
Margie

Navy Lieutenant Noah Landry and Reagan may be divorced but the passion they feel is far from over. Their young kids present the perfect reason for Noah to temporarily move in after an extended tour in Korea. Things heat up when the rain falls one night and they get wet in more ways than one.

That's the dreaded "blurb." I hate that description almost as much as writing them! The bulk of the story really is about their passionate night, however you’ll learn about their failed relationship and what their intentions are/were. I didn’t junk things up with long, weepy or angry dialog but I built empathy and understanding for the emotional connection the characters share. The story is only 14,000 words long yet I think you get a very good sense of what kind of people Noah and Reagan are. Since their kids brought them together, 3-year-old Gregory brings some comic relief for parents who have been “busted” by their kids the morning after.

Wet is the hottest piece I’ve written so far. Is it porn? No. The difference between a romance and porn is porn is sex for the sake of sex. In a romance, the leading characters have a relationship beyond swapping spit. What they do between the sheets (or other places) is their business and that’s really where erotica thrives. Pushing the kink envelope is the rigor du jour and Wet is tame compared with much of what is available on the market AND the story is between a man and a woman. The hottest genres include M/M and ménage. I need to understand more about what those kinds of relationships are like before I test the waters, so to speak, and write one of my own.

An author makes many personal decisions about the words on the page. Some of us never go beyond hinting what is going on between buttoned-up collars and closed doors. Others explore scenarios some readers have never imagined. I really find those opportunities to express myself as an author very exciting. I don’t know if I’d ever feel confident writing about a hot Dom and his submissive male partner but there are those who can and do. There’s a market for their work and like it or not, I think it’s great.

There’s a built-in stigma with a last name like mine. That’s a good reason to remember what I do is not who I am.

Until the next time.
Margie

Recently an author ruptured his spleen in a rant to me that could only be described as vicious and irrational. (I deleted it by the way instead of making his life even more miserable by forwarding the missle to his publisher.) I get that he felt entitled to set me straight or at least his version of straight. It was even nicer that I didn't have to waste any time replying since he said he blocked my e-mail address and I believed him. LOL

Another friend recently Tweeted about his nameless manager at his nameless company and is now suffering from corporate freeze-out. That happened to me once when I was gossiping about my manager via e-mail and accidently SENT IT TO HER. I wrote something like, "She's like a cold I can't shake, or elbows poking me in the ribs in a too-crowded elevator." Hardly offensive. Not very respectful. The e-mail incident sounds funny now, but it wasn't when she dragged me on the carpet and smirked, "Now I know how you really feel." And she made me pay dearly for the misaddressed missive every day after that. An author asked for advice to editing frustrations in a writing forum. No names were given. He didn't use derogatory phrases or anything but the publisher got wind of it, took offense, and his contract.

   Sometimes we want to rant. We need to. And geez, isn't an fiery e-mail or a couple of nasty Tweets just what the doctor ordered? How about a cleverly-worded post on our Facebook wall? We've all read about the folly of living large on the Internet but we think we'll never get nabbed for doing it. Social media allows us to move ghostlike in the world, pretending to be or become anyone we want. Conscience is our only guide. I'm not saying we should write whatever we like but it bugs me that I could lose my job or get in a really awkward situation over a remark taken out of context. I guess these recent incidents reminded me not to be too authentic and more importantly, remember if I wouldn't say it, DON'T write it.

Until the next time,

The Churchlady

  
Don't pretend you aren't interested in the subject. Any romance publisher will tell you erotica sells faster than any other genre. Fellow Noble Romance author, Keta Diablo, joins me today to discuss why Sex Sells.

MC: The growing trend to no-holds-barred books that freely explore all kinds of relationships, especially man love and ménage - yep kinky orgy scenes - are popping up in books like crazy and selling even faster. The acceptance for GLBT stories is skyrocketing. I included a ménage in Love Bites but I'm not ready to write man love stories yet and I don't know if I ever will. I think an author has to have an affinity to your subject matter to write it successfully.

KD: It's just crazy how it's [erotica] taken off in the market. I have readers who are hard core and wouldn't read any other genre, and then there's the mixed readers who read a wide variety, GLBT included, and then we have the curious readers. I can't tell you how many times readers (mostly women) have said, "I'm so curious about man love; I really want to try reading it." I read the other day that women make up a large share of the readers in the genre, and it doesn't surprise me. Many women have an innate sense of curiosity when it comes to how men make love, whether that's with a woman or another man.

I don't see the trends in this area phasing out anytime soon. If anything, the genre has expanded into steampunk, sci-fi, historical, horror, mystery, etc., and isn't limited to the standard contemporary man love.

MC: Some people ask me if I'm writing about my own sexual experiences or fantasies in my books. Many authors do. Even if I do, I'd never admit it. I will say however, that I do spend time searching out sexy lingerie, toys, locations, trends, and of course reading and watching erotica. Not to burst your salacious bubble, but I spend time researching everything I write about.

KD: I could give you my standard cop-out answer, "Authors have very creative imaginations." LOL And that would be only partly true. No matter what genre I write, I have to really be attached to it. For instance, I don't read chick-lit so I wouldn't attempt to write it. Nor could I write comedy in any genre. Number one, I've read gay fiction for a long time and I think that's crucial, as with any genre you write. Number two, I genuinely like reading and writing about male relationships.

Remember the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus? The title alone insinuates a deep chasm exists when it comes to how women view life versus men. But with gay fiction or lesbian, we don't have opposite sex relationships, and this is what fascinates me. The differences don't stem from gender, but rather personalities or backgrounds. Most definitely, two men in a relationship (or two women) react entirely different than one man/one woman when it comes to how they communicate, deal with emotion or relate to one another within that union. And that's where the creative imagination part kicks in. I also write heterosexual erotic romance and have to really stop and think about how these dynamics change when I switch to male/male.
 

I hear a lot of rumble now about lesbian fiction. It's always existed, of course, but hasn't attained the popularity that male/male has. I think we'll see this market expand and also the paranormal is still huge. Writing about vampires will continue, but not as heavily as before. I see books about ghosts, clairvoyants, mythological beasts, and any number of paranormal subjects on the horizon. The list is really endless when you think about. Again, people are curious about the "unknown" or the "what-ifs" in life. They seem to like to read about anything other than the normal and mundane.

MC:  I'm glad there's more acceptance for what used to be known as risky subject matter. The opportunities for authors are really amazing and readers will enjoy the results as well. Thanks for sharing your insights and experience, Keta. It's a pleasure to have you as a friend and mentor.

Please leave a comment with your e-mail address to be eligible to win a copy of either The Devil's Heel or Hot and Sticky, Keta Diablo's newest releases. You also have a chance to win one of my books - Awakening Allaire or Avenging Allaire. Please tell me which book interests you!

    The Devil’s Heel , Gay Fiction (historical), Noble Romance  

Five years ago Drew Hibbard dismissed Rogan Brockport from his life. Now, they meet again at the Governor’s Ball and Rogan will know the reason for the abrupt, unexplained cut. After Rogan saves Drew’s life during a pirate raid, he kidnaps him and the perfect opportunity to extract answers from Drew is finally at hand. Betrayal. Retribution. Undying Love. The Devil’s Heel.

 Hot and Sticky,  Gay Fiction (contemporary), Amber Quill Press
  

It’s been extremely difficult for Hugh Landon, an up-and-coming lawyer in Washington, D.C., to control his sexual fantasies about his paralegal, Milan Vassar.

When his career hangs in the balance over a missing file, Hugh must call Milan at the midnight hour and plead for assistance. Hugh’s determination not to mix business with pleasure disintegrates when Milan arrives at the office not only to help him, but to confess he’s held the same secret desires for his boss.

Keta writes for Noble Romance, Phaze Publishing, Amber Quill Press and Ravenous Romance. Visit Keta's Haunt, http://www.ketadiablo.com  or Keta's Keep Blog http://ketaskeep.blogspot.com.

Until the next time,

Margie

 Amazing News

Those of you brave enough to follow me (I can’t thank you enough, BTW) have been reading about my journey with Love Bites. I’m thrilled to say I sold the book to Noble Romance Publishing last week and the release is scheduled for June 28, 2010. When she sent the contract, Senior Editor, Jill Noble, wrote that Love Bites was one of the better stories she’s read recently. I’m thrilled about that kind of support and the fast release. Three novels in less than a year is pretty cool for a novice like myself.

So, I signed the contract last Friday and turned in my information for the cover and the dreaded jacket blurb yesterday. I also had to provide a bio. For as many dang times as I’ve had to do that, you’d think I’d keep track of the one I wrote last? Hell no. LOL

Today I began the pre-edits. Now you might think that since the contract is signed, it’s smooth sailing. You’d only be half right. The books all go through editing. Noble provides its authors with a detailed list of typical errors writers make and a bunch of style things they require to make their work easier. Each author has to address all that and then send the manuscript in for editing. “But I thought you just edited it.” I did, but I promise I will have missed things and there are, believe it or not, others who know more than I. Once their editor takes a fine comb through it, I’ll get it back for corrections and I’ll see it at least one more time before it is published. The real danger is to become complacent or even bored with your book after scrutinizing it so many times. Despite being on a deadline, you have to stay focused and do your best. Another author wrote today that one shouldn’t fall in love too deeply with the first draft because you’ll be making so many revisions before it’s published. I can’t agree more. I know I have a long way to go before I break my bad writing habits, but I hope I’ll get faster and better at avoiding mistakes with each one. That’s a reasonable goal, I think.

I owe thanks to my friend and fellow author, Keta Diablo, for pushing me to edit the manuscript thoroughly and for giving it a shout as I subbed it. She’s such a wealth of advice and encouragement. She’s very busy and still makes time to help others. Love Bites still has to stand on its own two feet, but when authors such as Keta say it’s worth a close look, it means a lot to the writer. My pals Leslie Krussell and Dino were my beta readers - Kathy Hamel chimed in toward the middle and provided some great insights. It helps that Kathy is a vampire fan. Leslie and Dino just tell me like it is! James and Jodie helped out with medical information and reviews, and Joe gave me the skinny on bomb wiring. (I promise, Joe, there’ll be a vampire in stilettos in the sequel. Her name is Victoria. LOL) My hometown paper, The Ely Echo , is doing a follow-up story on me. I had a fantastic article in the Echo just before my wildly successful signing in Ely on Thanksgiving night. I’m tickled they are making space for me once again.

I went to Salome last weekend. If you’ve been to that opera, let me know what you thought of it. My mom, sister, and I have decided if the opera is being sung in German, we’re passing. The two we’ve hated have both been sung in German. Pretty bold performance, too, I’d have to add. I also saw Bon Jovi last Thursday night. GREAT seats, terrific concert, and a really fun night. Did a boatload of shopping for my upcoming trip to LA in June. I can hardly wait to meet all my pals there.

As soon as I catch my breath, I’ll introduce you to Keta Diablo. She’s graciously agreed to blog with me and give away one of her books. You could win one of mine too. I’ve read a couple of Keta’s and if you love a steamy romance, you need to read one of Keta’s . So, next entry is double the pleasure. Subscribe so you don’t miss out.

Thanks for all your well-wishes and enthusiasm for my career. It’s wonderful to hear from people all around the world.

Until the next time,

Margie

 

In my last post, I alluded to finding my books a new home. I’ve gotten the rights back to Awakening Allaire and Avenging Allaire and I’m pleased to announce I’m marketing them through 1RomanceEbooks. I was honored to be invited to join the ranks there with some very prestigious authors. Having said this, I don’t want to infer anything derogatory about Class Act Books. I maintain a warm friendship with Publisher Bev Haynes, and some of the authors still there. It was just time for me to move on. So make some time and visit me over at 1RomanceEbooks. From sweet to sizzling, you’ll find something you like.

I’m participating! They have oodles of fabulous prizes to give away from The Long and Short of It Whipped Cream (erotica) side as well as Long and Short Reviews Romance. It’s pretty simple to participate - just find the Easter eggs hidden on the Web sites of the sponsors and authors. Click here to see the great prizes and get the scoop. You can win an autographed print copy of Awakening Allaire in this contest. It was a 2009 LASR Best Book nominee and I’d love to send it to you. Have fun! If you can’t wait to get your hands on either book, click on Awakening Allaire’s ad and it’ll also take you right to 1RomanceEbooks.

I’m on the couch hanging out today at The Menagerie. Stop in and learn what the weirdest food I’ve eaten has been... and what my reaction was. You’ll also learn a bunch of other things about me, like how my family and friends view my work, where I got started, and what I want to know about the future. Bring a beer, bring a cup of coffee, bring a friend, and visit with me. It’s no fun to blog alone! They also have some GREAT eye candy…18+ years old only!

After a lot of indecision, I went back to Love Bites and edited it some more. I’d subbed it last month and in between, I re-read the story. Some things just bugged me. I think most authors will say every time they look at one of their stories they find something to fiddle with. Yep, I’m a fiddler too. So yesterday I subbed it someplace else (I don’t like to disclose where I’ve submitted) and I’m crossing my fingers. I’m really trying hard to break into a bigger publishing company and I hope I’m successful. I don’t have a lot of hope that Awakening Allaire and Avenging Allaire will be re-released - maybe - but I’m not hanging my hat on it. I’m looking forward to my next step up!

     

I had some exciting news recently - I’m going to LA to a For Love Charity Event. The actors mentioned in the dedication for my first two books will be there - Alison Sweeney and James Scott. Silly as it may seem to you, I can’t wait to have them autograph my books and put a copy in their hands. Wouldn’t it be cool if they actually had time to read them and let me know what they thought? Many, many of my Forbidden Love girlfriends will be there and I’m rooming with my beta reader, Leslie. I can hardly wait!

I’m sorry I haven’t been around a whole lot. I got that nasty winter flu everyone was hacking and wheezing about and really got behind. On top of that, I picked up a bunch of freelance work. I write and edit for a direct marketing firm part time and keep my magazine freelance business going, too. Writing books has to get squeezed in during my spare time (what is that?). Anyway, with moving my first two novels to 1RomanceEbooks, and everything else, time has been scarce. Some authors blog every day. I just don’t have that much to say that I think you want to know about. I’m always open to subjects and questions…jot me a note. I’d love to hear from you.

Until the next time.

Margie

With the help of my two beta readers, Leslie and Dino, I’m outlining a sequel to my erotic paranormal, Love Bites. I’m deep in the throes of trying to figure out how a sweet human woman can defend herself against the likes of vampire Ladislav Husek. The Ancient One has a real axe to grind with Jui and Wade and this evil, psycho vamp going to grind it hard in Love Bites’ sequel. You’ll also meet a former vampire lover of Wade’s named Victoria. Tori is going to cause some serious heartburn for Jui and I'm going to work hard on Jui’s character and motivation to make sure Tori knows she’s not dealing with a shrinking violet by any stretch of the imagination. I also think the relationship between Jui’s father and Wade will be interesting to develop. I’m eager to start writing it while I wait to hear on a contract for Love Bites. You might think it's nuts to start the sequel without having the first book sold, but I think Love Bites is a great story. And by the time Love Bites could come out, I'll have the sequel done.

I’ve also got a couple of smoking hot short stories I’m going to polish up and submit. I tell you, the opportunities outstrip the time I have these days. I came down with some kind of a plague last week and I’m still not feeling great. It’s shocking how quickly you fall behind but I’m digging in and forging some new paths. You’ll be able to buy my books at 1RomanceEbooks.com and on Amazon very, very soon. I’ll tell you more about it as soon as the books are up. These are awesome opportunities for me and while I’m a little nervous, I’m also very excited about moving forward in my career.

Several of you wrote recently to say how much you enjoyed Awakening and/or Avenging Allaire. If I haven’t said it recently or enough, thank you. Those notes just make my days. I always marvel at authors who hatch a new idea for a novel and immediately can say it’s the first in three or four of a series. I don’t operate that way. I’m a one-book-at-a-time kind of author. I hope they’re worth the wait.

I’ll be back soon with information about new places to buy my books.

Until the next time.

Margie

Most of us know what this acronym means. I’ve never been a fan of the Stupid part. Recently I read an article on author style written by Stephen Wilbers. He teaches business writing and writes a column for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis twice a month. Mr. Wilbers’ article inspired me to rewrite the meaning of the KISS acronym to:
Keep It Simply Succinct.

What is author style? It’s the way you describe, inform, and tell your story. Style isn’t an excuse to write exactly the way you speak or take the reader on an endless journey of run-on sentences and detoured thoughts. Unless you’re Garrison Keillor. It’s the way you correctly deploy the rules of proper grammar and writing technique and the way you break them (within reason) to write your story.

Mr. Wilbers used one word that struck home with me and actually made me feel vindicated for many of the editing remarks I’ve made over the years. He used the word “utilitarian.” While editing Love Bites, I was reminded over and over, to make the most of every word I chose and to cut any that aren’t contributing to the whole. However, William Strunk and E.B. White remind writers not to take shortcuts at the expense of clarity. There’s a balance to reach between eliminating unnecessary information and making the reader scratch his head, wasting time instead of saving it. Each word must pull its own weight. Does that mean you shouldn’t spend time creating a rich story that engages the senses? Absolutely not. It means you shouldn’t fill up the story with tidbits that prevent the story from moving forward smoothly or leave readers wondering why they needed to know that. For example, it isn’t necessary to describe every element of a romantic meal unless you’re writing an article on cooking or meal planning. A taste, scent (or odor), texture, or visual description of portions of the meal dramatizes the scene and draws in the reader but skip the play-by-play that may send them looking for a snack of their own instead of reading your work.

I spent the weekend rereading my newest manuscript, Love Bites. I definitely have my own style. My work "feels" airy to me. Compelling in the right places and swift for the eye. In a couple of spots, I think I edited back too far and thought the paragraph read choppy. Dang.  Those are fixes waiting to happen.

One of the things I like best about Twitter and texting is they force me to get to the point. I use shortcut text but I must be succinct for Twitter and I’m too lazy to text long messages. I also write direct marketing materials all day long. People are busy. Get to the point FAST. Give them every bit of information they need and skip all the junk they don’t. Save the TMI for the sequel, or a follow-up article or just suck it up and delete it. Keep It Simply Succinct.

Until the next time,

The Churchlady

I’m spent the last few weeks working like a dog on Love Bites. It always makes me feel stupid when I realize I’ve gotten blind to my own work. You know, that’s one of the keys to being a successful author. You can’t be blind. You have to write a great story - that’s the threshold of pain. After that, you’ve got to scrub out all the extra words and strange phrases, the dangling participles, the overuse of “that,” the obscure use of “it,” remove all but essential adverbs, dump as much passive voice as possible, get rid of pronoun pox, all omniscient voice, and eliminate head jumping that reads like fleas on a dog.

If a submissions editor has to pause to wonder what you meant, you haven’t done a good job. If you didn’t take the time to rewrite a sentence riddled with pronouns and adverbs, they’re not going to take the time to keep reading. Submissions editors have far too many manuscripts to read to waste a lot of time wondering if the author can fix their own writing blunders—even if the story is promising. Your book is an investment, a bet on sales. If it’s going to take rework and handholding to bring a manuscript to market they aren’t going to bother. Friend and fellow author, Keta Diablo, reminded me of that a few weeks ago.

After spending weeks and weeks on my novel, honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was get intimately familiar with every single word. Honestly, that’s exactly what an author must do. Maybe when I have 20 of these under my belt, it won’t be so difficult. Maybe I’ll write them better right out of the chute. Certainly that’s a goal to strive for but until then, I’m examining every word.

I hear from unpublished authors all the time who cannot figure out why this awesome story they wrote isn’t getting a contract. Sometimes it’s where you send the book—your novel must fit with their genres and sometimes it’s what’s hot in the market at the moment. Is it fair? No, but it’s reality. Or perhaps you really need to take a serious editing pen to your work. I was pretty sure my novel was coming in around 69,000 words. When I finished editing, I was around 64,700. That’s a lot of its, that’s, adverbs, dangling participles, passive voice and unnecessary information. Sometimes when I’ve got my finger hovering over the delete key I start to sweat. “I really like that paragraph or phrase,” I think. But unless I can find a way to make it work with the story, not against it, the words have to go.

I spent several hours writing the summary and at least an hour trying to write the dreaded, 300-word jacket blurb. Then I pressed send.

My next project is a children’s book. The working title is Counting Raindrops and features a little boy named Joey, who is frightened of thunderstorms.

I’m doing a zippitydoodah for my brother in-law, Mike, who should return after a very long year in Iraq. Blessings to my nephew, Justin, who is serving in Afghanistan and to all our soldiers near and far, past and present who risked their lives for our freedom.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until the next time.
Margie