How I Almost Hit a Fireman

Last summer one evening my daughter and I were heading to the movie store in my little beetle to grab a chick flick and some chololate chip ice cream. We had the top down and the music blaring, singing along with the radio and having a good ole time. As soon as we turned into the Blockbuster parking lot, though, we noticed a big fire truck in front of the Philly cheesesteak place. A couple of police cruisers were parked off to the side. I slowed to a stop but it was obvious that whatever fire there was had been put out. Since we were already in the parking lot, in order to leave we were going to have to back out of the entrance and then go all the way around the block…. well there was a young fireman standing near the truck so I waved to him and very politely asked if I could go past the firetruck instead of going around.(Cara and I both noticed his hottiness) He smiled…. we smiled back and he nodded and waved us on.

I suppose we ere both distracted by his cute smile and all of that gear and what not because I didn’t realize how tight of a squeeze it was going to be to pass the big truck, but I had already committed and had no choice but to proceed. I inched past the truck (my daughter was questioning my decision and I was sort of defending my position… after all the young fireman *had* waved me on (I think) Anyway, just as my little VW has right at the middle steps (remember the top was down) a big fireman began descending the steps backwards (in full gear). He didn’t see me until the last second as I creeped past and was in real danger of falling backwards into my car (on top of me with that big hat on and everything) He suddenly turned and saw me (or maybe Cara and I might have screamed)…. teetered backwardstossing his hat into the air and cursing just as I inched past. Once past I sort of gunned it and in the rearview mirror I saw his hat as it crashed to the pavement and sort of bounced. I noticed too, that he was older but a hottie too… but he raised fist and starrted yelling at me. I felt compelled to stop and yell sorry back to him and sincerely hoped that his hat wasn’t dented or anything. The police by his time were taking notice and my daughter thought that I might be arrested so I gunned my car again, roared over to the far end of the parking lot and we waited like fugitives from the law, huddled down in the bucket seats. Finally, when the coast was clear, we headed into the movie store.

By this time (after the police had left) we thought the adventure was quite amusing and of course my daughter immediately called her friends and told them that her mother had almost run over a fireman… not my fault I tell you….not my fault.

So my question is: have you ever done anything this blonde? (I’m now a redhead but my blonde genes run deep)

It is 70 degrees out and I will have the top down today for the first time in months….fireman beware 😉

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How do YOU welcome spring??

Well, this may be wishful thinking for a lot of us. It snowed here all weekend. Nothing deep, but the ground would turn white and then melt away… only to do it all over again an hour later. It was a pretty snow – big fluffy flakes. But I am more than ready for warm weather!! Which brings me to my blog topic for today. 🙂 How do YOU say hello to spring? For me, there are two “events” that mark the passing of blah winter and the advent of lovely spring… The first is the day when I carry all my cold weather clothes to the upstairs closet and bring down all my short sleeve stuff. It hasn’t happened yet, but soon. 🙂 And the other milestone – my first pedicure and breaking out the sandals! Again, it hasn’t happened yet, but I’m thinking I may bring out the polish tomorrow or the next day. The forecast for the end of the week is warm – yeah! The picture on today’s blog is from a trip I made this week with my mom, two sisters, one brother-in-law, and two nieces. We went to Gatlinburg for two nights. The tree in the pic is a flowering cherry (I think) and in the distance you can see snow on top of the Smokies. It was pretty chilly, but the sunshine was great. So tell me ladies (and gents), what do you do to welcome spring??? I’d love to hear, and I’d love to say goodbye to winter for good. Janice

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And we have a winner…

🙂

it looks like the first author interview was a rousing success.

If memory serves me correctly, Sylvia Day is going to be the next victim. *G* If you want to join in and help us out with the first round questions, just go to

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScampsVampsandSpicyRomance/ and join the group. We run random contests for members only and the group is a fun one. We’d love to see you there.

The winner of JR Ward’s prize, a signed copy of Lover Eternal is …. Tina! Tina, I need to email me @ shilohwalker@gmail.com . Put something like BLOG in the subject line so I can find it easy.

Thanks everybody!

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Just to clarify

if you want a chance to win today’s prize offered by JR Ward, the questions have to be posted here. I’ll draw a winner, probably tomorrow, from those who joined in.

if you want to participate in the future author interviews and possibly win a prize before the interview is posted… you need to join the yahoo group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScampsVampsandSpicyRomance/

The way it works, we tell you who the next author is, and you have about a week to post your questions to the group, then we will choose five or six of those questions. By participating, you may be able to win a prize in the group.

When the interviews are posted here, there’s another chance to win, if the author has offered a prize.

Hope people aren’t too confused. While you can ask as many questions at the blog that you want, I’m only each each name once, in order to be fair.

Shi

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Author Interviews! First Up … JR Ward

Blogger is apparently having PMS or something because every time I try to upload a picture, it times out on me. Finally got one up, although it’s not JR’s latest book. Ah well… it’s still an awesome cover.

Vamps and Scamps will be doing author interviews with various authors~some of the future victims include Lora Leigh, Sylvia Day, Toni Blake, & Erin McCarthy.

Today, the victim is JR Ward and JR has kindly agreed to give away a signed copy of Lover Eternal to some lucky poster. Yes… to win, you have to post.

Dark Lover, the first of JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, appeared on shelves last fall and many, many paranormal fans fell in love.

With the author interviews we are doing, we are letting the readers ask the questions. For a week, readers are given the chance to post their questions to the yahoo group associated with the blog, ScampsVamps& SpicyRomance.

The readers who ask questions may be entered in a drawing for a prize, but that prize is only available to the participators, so if you want to increase your chances of winning, just visit the group’s home page or send an email to

ScampsVampsandSpicyRomance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

And onto the interview…

1) Will there ever be any female warriors in this series?Or will they all stay male?

Absolutely. There is a female named Payne whom you’ll meet soon and she is… VERY cool. I like her and I believe I know who she ends up with. And the thing is, with a female coming into the Brotherhood, you’re going to see a lot of the essential social values of the race get skewed. Males are supposed to protect their counterparts. But Payne is not in need of protection. She’s going to shake up the scene, but in a good way. She’s also not one of those annoying, brash, in your face types. She is power. She is strength. She is as up front and direct as any male warrior so she doesn’t need theatrics. She just levels her weapon and gives you a choice: you either do it her way or you end up with a leaky hole. I like her because she’s really an amalgam of male and female characteristics…

Can you tell I’m into her? 😉

~*~

2)Which authors do you think influenced you most in the writer you became?

Ummmm… Stephen King for the horror aspect and the world building. He’s fabulous, a true genius. And I like his stripped down style of prose. Suzanne Brockmann for the romance. She’s incredible… she can create emotion in a reader in like, two sentences. I also like her style, very mainstream. Sue Grafton for craft. She has a great command of story fundamentals and she’s helped me a lot. She’s also very disciplined both in her prose and in her approach to business, so yeah, definitely Sue. Plus I dig her books. My CP, Jessica Andersen, without whom, I think I might be behind bars for a heinous crime against an inanimate object (the compy). Jess also has a great line by line, cleanliness to her work and she’s wonderful at suspense. And then I think of my friends… because other writers can influence not just what you put on the page but how you deal with this business of ours. So… Linda Francis Lee and Gaelen Foley and Tina St. John and Shi and Lora Leigh and I’m sure I’m leaving folks out. You need people to talk to, you know?

~*~

3)Who is your favorite brother and why?

Zsadist. Definitely. Without a doubt. He is violent and unpredictable and dangerous. He’s also… awkward and not a total savage. I like the darkness in him because it makes his redemption so much more vivid and engrossing. But I will say, that this dark side of his is grounded in what has happened to him- there’s a reason for why he is the way he is. I wouldn’t be in love with him if he were just a bastard. The fact that he’s suffered is the way I connect with him.

~*~

4) If your life had a theme song, what would it be and why?

Queen’s Under Pressure. Because I’m usually stressed out and over-focused and feeling like I wish I were doing things better.

~*~

5)If you were to describe each of the brothers as an ice-cream flavor,what would it be and why?

Ummmm… I can’t! I just don’t and can’t see them like that! LOLOL So much for the writer’s imagination… *hangs head in shame* See? This is my point about the song choice. I can’t answer this question and I think I failed the interview!

~*~

I don’t think you can fail this kind of interview, JR. 😉 Although I was wondering who was going to be Rocky Road. *G*

Okay…floor is open for comments and JR will pop in later if anybody has other questions.

You can learn more about the books at www.jrward.com and she has a reader group @

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Black_Dagger_Brotherhood/

I’ll be posting who the next author interview is here in a few days, so if you want to get your shot at asking the questions, join the group!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ScampsVampsandSpicyRomance/

Shi

http://www.shilohwalker.com

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Take My Breath Away!

What would you do or have you done if/when you met someone who actually did take your breath away? Or are you surrounded by beautiful people?

My story: I went to the booksigning at RT when it was in Ft. Worth many, many years ago. I had never been to anything like that before and I was in awe at all the authors who were going to be there. I went with a group of women and they were talking about the cover models and I was very smugly thinking that I could care less. I wanted the books and to meet these authors who created them.

As we arrived so did a group of men. Jeans, no shirt, wearing vests, boots, tanned, muscled, 6-pack abs.

OHMYGOD! I couldn’t look away. My mouth watered, my heart skipped beats, then began to race. Smugness went to hell in a handbag. I stuttered, I drooled.

But then I met one who took my breath away. John D’Salvo (spelling?) I asked if I could take his picture and quickly snapped two—double exposing him (don’t I wish!) Never have gotten a blasted picture of him.

So, tell me since RT is fast approaching. What has been your favorite experience at RT? If you’ve never been and are planning on going then you’re in for a treat. I always have a blast. And if you’re not planning on going, have you ever met someone who made you stutter because they looked so damn good?

If you respond in any way, form or fashion I’ll put your name in a drawing for a copy of Southern Comfort.

I’m off to look at flooring but I’ll check in before I go to bed.
Good Luck!
Karen Kelley

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Description…boring or brilliant??

Description…how much is too much??

And I don’t mean this about the sex because that’s sort of determined by the line but what about the rest of the story…

I often wonder how much does the reader really want to know? Do you really give a hoot what he/she is wearing? How they fix their hair? What they’re wearing on that date and to what detail? Black shoes, white shoes? Blah, blah, blah…

What about the setting…what the room looks like, how she’s making those knitted hats, how he’s building that four-lane bridge?

Sometimes I feel like I’m boring everyone to tears but it does add color or is it adding surface crap?

So, how much is too much or too little?
Any thoughts on this?

Hugs, Dianne

The Way U Look Tonight
April ‘06
RT: 4½ star review
Brava Kensington

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