This summer, during an anniversary blog event for Blaze, some of us wrote blog posts that did just that – rewrote some of our favorite TV and movies as Blaze. Unfortunately, a technical glitch kept mine from appearing, so Brenda graciously allowed me to post it now for a regular Blaze post (thanks, Brenda!).

Below is my entry for “It Would Have Been Better As A Blaze” and I’ll pose this question for conversation: which TV show would you like to get your hands on if you had the power to change it? and what would you switch up? Post your answer, and next week I will send out a backlist book and a little prezzie from Florida to one winner. Note: If you have not watched Justified at all, there are Season 1/2 spoilers in the post below.

Have fun!
Sam
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It would have been better as a Blaze… Justified

I feel almost sacrilegious saying Justified could be better in any way whatsoever – the show is amazing — but as a Blaze author, I can’t help taking my favorite TV shows and playing “what if?” especially given some of the recent turns in Season 2 of Justified. One of my favorite parts of Justified in the second season was the bad boy/sorta bad girl attraction between Boyd and Ava, but what about Raylan? His love life in season 2 really needs a Blaze rewrite, in my view.

If I were to rewrite Justified as a Blaze, I would go back to Season 1 and I would definitely NOT have had Raylan sleeping with Winona when he was still (sort of) with Ava, and I most definitely would not have had Winona end up pregnant in Season 2! For me, that’s where our hero, Raylan, takes a turn away from being the sexy hero I want him to be.

To correct this error, I would rewrite the part of season two where Raylan meets the fiery, red-headed bombshell representing Black Pike mining company, Carol Johnson. These two have perfect Blaze chemistry, in my opinion. Raylan doesn’t like her or the company she works for. Still, in my version of the show, he takes her up on her sexy offer to go to bed. For Raylan, it’s an ego-soothing roll in the hay after finding out Ava is now with Boyd. For Carol, it’s just a little fun – or so they both think (classic Blaze!). Carol, with her life in danger from the locals who want the mining company out, is capable of taking care of herself, but doesn’t mind if Raylan sticks very close. Carol is definitely a Blaze heroine.

Of course, their dangerous situation intensifies the hot attraction they share, but they also come from two different worlds. How could they ever be together? Carol would be the last woman Raylan could imagine falling in love with; she’s polished, corporate, professional — and she’s definitely not the kind of woman to live in a place like Harlan. This is clear when he goes to talk to her to tells her how he feels –but she’s already gone. Raylan figures he’ll never see her again –but then, her company decides to make Carol the permanent, on-site mining rep.

Raylan can’t easily forgive her for walking away, but will they be able to resist each other? Probably not. This would be just the beginning of a very hot Justified season that I think would definitely have been better as a Blaze!

The first is Cape Cod. We love that area so much we have even considered moving there, and luckily, we have mobile jobs so it’s really a possibility. We started going to the Cape regularly back in the ’90s, and for a while, went every year. Then, we had several years in between with no vacations or trips to a lot of new places, and last year went back to the Cape. We loved it as much as ever, and don’t plan to wait so long to visit again.

Our other repeat vacation spot is St Pete’s Beach, FL — we also started going there in the ’90s, and it’s our “go to” vacation spot for winter. My husband used to live in Clearwater, so he knows the area, and has a lot of friends and family around. We have a hotel we like where we can usually get a room that opens out right onto the beach for a reasonable price (this picture taken from that room). There are a lot of restaurants and sites we like to revisit, while usually discovering some new ones as well.

The benefits of the repeat vacation spot are numerous — you know the area, so driving or finding a place to stay or to eat is not stressful, and yet, if it’s a large enough spot, there’s always something new to enjoy. You can relax and truly have a restful stay, or be as busy as you like. You have a rough idea of cost already, so you don’t find any pricey surprises when you get there.

So, do you have places you like to return to again and again? Maybe your return vacations spots might become new places I’ll plan to visit at some point.

Sam

PS: If you haven’t see it already, check out my new webpage.

Some of these I have brought into adulthood, especially the campfires, which we have in our outdoor fire pit, and food on the grill, and the State Fair.  Much to my hubby’s disappointment, I am happy to leave camping behind, but love beaches. Last night, I was delighted to see the first lightning bugs of the season flickering outside our living room window. New activities that summer brings for me are gardening, enjoying my flowers, and most recently, digging a new vegetable garden and hopefully having fresh veggies come August and Sept. Of course, then summer will be almost over, but we won’t think about that.

One thing I don’t really care for in summer are the extreme thunder and lightning storms that come with the hot weather, though I do enjoy a rainy summer day. My current book, Mine Until Morning, happens during a severe storm moving up the east coast, and due to the June release and our recent weather, the book was well-timed — so many readers have reported reading it during storms! Hopefully they had someone to cozy up with when the lights were out and the thunder was raging. 

Tell me about what you love about summer, and I’ll send three posters a copy of Mine Until Morning, along with some honey dust and solid perfume custom made to match the book. And enjoy every day of summer, as it is way too short.

I decided my hero, Jonas, had to be in a career that was actually dependent on his vision, so I made him a bodyguard. How can a person be an effective bodyguard without their vision? How did he lose his vision in the first place? What if the heroine, Tessa, was the cause of his blindness? That’s where I started out with this story. When Brenda asked me to write it for the Blackout series, the idea became even more rich for me, since both of my characters would be “in the dark.” A lot can happen in the dark in a Blaze.

I don’t want to give too many bits of the story away, but writing a blind hero was a challenge–if you think you have to check and double-check your manuscript for details with a normal hero and heroine, you have to do that even more closely when one of your characters can’t see a thing. It’s natural for me to refer to things I can see and to describe scenes visually for a reader, so that they can see it, too. I had to be very careful in the book to make sure Jonas never accidentally saw anything or referred to anything in such a way that it would suggest he had use of his eyes.

More than that, I had to make sure he was using his other senses — for everything. This ended up leading me to writing some of the sexier scenes I think I’ve written. It was also kind of poignant for him, since Jonas wanted to see Tessa very much, but could only use his other senses.

It was an interesting writing challenge, putting certain limits on what my character could do, and what I could do as a writer, but also opening up possibilities. His blindness, which was in part the thing that came between him and Tessa at the start of the story, binds them together throughout their blackout adventure, navigating Philadelphia during a bad storm.

I hope you will enjoy meeting Jonas, my blind bodyguard. Post any questions, comments, or thoughts you have, or just come by to say hello, to be entered in a drawing to win a signed copy of Mine Until Morning, along with handmade Mine Until Morning honey-almond soaps, edible honey dust (just like in the book!), and solid perfume all made by Latherati. I will announce the winner on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Once we are into summer, I will like them again. They will do their acrobatics in the back yard, leaping from tree limb-to-tree limb, entertaining us in all kinds of ways. We love them, and enjoy having them around.

But today, the Spring wars began. They have deflowered (and not in the fun way) every single bud from my small Tulip Magnolia, and they are working on the White Star Magnolia as well — luckily, that tree is larger, and so they can’t get out onto the ends of the branches, though they try. I will have some small white flowers left to enjoy.

Then, as the several hundred tulips I have planted pop up, they will systematically behead those as well. I have a few dozen planted in the circle around the base of the white star magnolia, and I have waited for the big, fat tulips to bust open in that spot outside my kitchen window, only to discover headless stems in the morning, the fat buds ravaged on the ground.

It’s the only time, ever, I have considered a shotgun. Only city ordinances keep those little suckers safe. I call them names I can’t repeat here, I set my dogs out after them, and I run outside chasing them out myself several times a day, clapping my hands and hoping they think it’s a shotgun. (I think I heard them laughing about that once.)

I have tried sour spray — which leads to them pulling the head off and then leaving it on the ground, since it tastes bad; it also was expensive and tiring to try to keep spraying tulips after every rain. Hot pepper did nothing, and I don’t want to use it anyway, since we have neighborhood cats, and I have heard that they can get it on their feet, and then if they scratch their eyes, etc it can cause infection. So no hot pepper.

I did have some luck with mothballs — I put them everywhere, and they did work very well — our entire yard also smelled like an old closet. I’m pretty sure these are not healthy for people or animals as well, and I don’t like the idea of those chemicals all leeching into the dirt — but they DID work. Home Depot was sold out.

I will be fighting these little demons for the next month or so, until the tulips are gone (one way or another), and then the summer flowers start, few of which interest the squirrels. Then I start having words with our woodchuck about eating all of the daisies and coneflowers…. it never ends. But I am an environmentalist, and I am firm believer in nurturing nature, especially as we build our houses all over their turf. I just wish I didn’t end up nurturing them with all of my flowers.

How about you? Do you have a garden? Pests? Or other seasonal love/hate relationships you go through each year? And if you have any tips about squirrels, feel free to share.

My husband announced to me the other night that his new choice for “another guy who would be cool to hang out with” had changed from Billy Bob Thornton (much to my puzzlement), to Bear Grylls, the adventure guy from Man Vs. Wild.

That got me thinking about who I would hang out with, male or female, just because I think they would be fun or interesting. The only rules are that they have to be someone current and in the world (so no historical or fictional figures). But past that, anything goes.

I would definitely hang out with Bear, as well — I love his show, and I’d love to listen to his adventures and survival advice (though maybe talking to his wife and family could be even more interesting, and I am not sure I would want to go on one of his adventures, as my husband would love to do).

But here’s my “official” list, in no particular order; these folks are all equally compelling and interesting to me:

Pauley Perrette — I really like her energy, and we both enjoy supporting various charitable causes. I would also love to hear her stories about being on the set of NCIS, and from what I have heard from her in interviews, I think we’d have a lot to chat about (and with any luck, maybe Mark Harmon or Michael Weatherly would stop by *G*).

Jason Crandell — my favorite online/Yoga Journal and DVD yoga instructor. Being a newbie to yoga, I would love to get some yoga instruction from an expert. Seems like a really nice guy.

Sue Grafton who is one of my favorite writers, and I would love to know what she’s going to do after Z.

Rick Bayless — I really like his Mexican cookbooks (and his Frontera salsa at the store!), and given his travels and experience, I’d love to spend a day cooking and visiting with him. He’s also into Yoga, so we’d have that to talk about as well.

Phil Keoghan or Jeff Probst — would be a blast to get the inside scoop on The Amazing Race or Survivor and get to know these guys a bit outside of their hosting roles.

So those are some of mine, though there are others that would probably come to me later. I’m drawing a blank at the moment, but I’m sure more will come to me.

Who would you like to hang out with? Share, and I’ll pick three winners to receive a backlist book of their choice later today (Virtually Perfect and About Last Night are the only ones not available, sorry).
Sam

In the past, probably the top three ways I found books were looking for authors I already knew, by recommendations from friends/family, and by serendipitous finds when wandering the bookstore or in the grocery store. I’ll admit that changing over to Kindle and e-reading, almost exclusively, probably triggered the biggest changes in my book-buying as well.

I think I have found almost all of my books, in the last year or so, via Twitter, Facebook, and searching publisher websites. Other times, I just do random searches at Amazon to see what comes up, or I follow my Kindle recommendations, or look at various Book Blogs. Kindle has definitely affected what books I buy with their free offerings – I discovered Karen Moning, Richelle Mead and several other authors through their free book offerings.

But the influence of Twitter and Facebook have been huge for me. Not because people promo there (I almost never buy books because someone is pushing one at me), but because I have the chance to just talk with so many new authors whom I may never have crossed paths with before. I usually end up buying their books, normally several in a series. I can name at least a dozen authors I have added to my reading list just from conversations online. I also talk with a lot of other readers online, which is a great resource. There’s a decent chance that I never would have found these new authors at all via my old methods.

I don’t troll the bookstores or shelves often anymore, and I know that’s not entirely a good thing, especially in light of bookstore closings, but, on President’s Day here in the US, I can’t lie — I find books in completely new ways now, and I am buying more, and reading more… so maybe it balances out?

I don’t know. How about you? Do you still find your books the same way, or have you discovered more/different paths to reading? Do you find these new venues lead you to buying more books?

On Twitter, I received a lot of funny replies, the most amusing from the western women I follow: “Who would want it?” (all sweaty, LOL) and “Good luck — maybe if you shot him.” Although there was a tip of the hat (so to speak) to chivalry — a cowboy might give up his hat if a woman didn’t have one of her own and was in the hot sun or the rain, etc.

Just for fun, I did a little cowboy hat search on Google and found these fun bits of info:

* I discovered, via the Mythbusters TV show site, that a cowboy hat cannot be shot from someone’s head without injuring or killing the wearer (never know when that little tidbit could come in handy)
* John B Stetson created the first cowboy hat in 1865 for his own comfort, which he sold to a passer-by right off his head for a gold piece — and then opened a factory that was selling around 2 million hats 50 years later.
* A ten-gallon hat actually holds about a half-gallon
* “While it remained a universal image of the American West, subtle differences in the shade, shape size, and style provided accurate information about the cowboy’s background and geographic base.” (www.everycowgirlsdream.com)
* Men tip their hat when saying hello to a woman, take it off when introduced. They don’t tip their hat to another man, they just nod.

There are all kinds of etiquette about when to tip, take off, leave on, etc that I am sure gets interpreted in a number of ways in the real world, but what I’d really like to know is any insider knowledge you all have about cowboys and their hats (something I heard once, that women would steal the hat of a guy they wanted to kiss or…get to know a lot better *G* — true?). Or, tell me how YOU would get a cowboy to hand his hat over to you.

At the end of the day, I’ll choose three comments to win a copy of any book from my backlist as thanks for helping me think about cowboys and their. . .hats.

Christmas is when I pull out the cookie recipes I got from my mother and her Italian, Polish, and many other friends. They’re the kinds of recipes people keep in the family, and usually the kind you have to show someone how to make, because there’s always some trick or tip that defies being explained in the recipe. That means they’re made of memories as much as sugar and chocolate.

I can’t even begin to think of how many hours I spent in the kitchen with my mother, to all hours of the night, making all kinds of baked goods. She was a stickler, too — it had to be perfect, and you used every little bit of dough in the bowl. I can still hear her say “There’s a whole cookie in there — get it out!” LOL I say that to anyone I am teaching to bake, or baking with, if they don’t scrape all of the dough out, too.

At Christmas I make her date breads, her Italian Fudge Cookies, Biscotti, the Mexican Wedding Cakes (which she called Snowballs), the Rum Cakes, the Khrustyky, and others, and making these recipes is more than just the urge for a sweet treat, though they are definitely that, too. They are the way I connect with my mom and all of those memories every year, and how I keep her with me even though she’s been gone for almost fifteen years now.

Growing up, every Christmas Eve was also a birthday party in our house, as Christmas Eve was my mom’s birthday. I hope you’ll send a little birthday wish up for my mom this week, and then tell me about your favorite cookies and cookie memories (share and I’ll pick someone to get a signed copy of my December Blaze, I’ll Be Yours For Christmas).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

A little self-indulgence now and then is good for the soul, I say. In my case, it came in an unexpected form this fall, when I received a store coupon for a Coach bag in the mail. I was going to give it to a family member to use, but as I looked for a winter bag and couldn’t find one, that coupon became very tempting. I thought, what if I used it for myself? Normally, I never even bother going into the Coach store, except to browse and think “why would anyone spend that much on a bag?”

Well, now I know. I decided I wanted to find THE bag. A bag good for the grocery store but nice enough to go out to dinner. Jeans or dress clothes. All seasons. It had to be perfect.

I found it. It took me three hours of walking around the mall to talk myself into using that coupon and buying it, but I did. As you can see, it’s a rather understated, classic bag, but I love the black leather and the silver hardware, the grommets, buckles and the adjustable strap. The leather is like satin — just touching it is a joy. I understand the difference now in the construction of a high-quality bag — the zipper opens and closes completely without effort, the strap is comfortable, the pockets are just right. I love every single little detail.

Even buying it was a treat. The sales people fall all over you, of course, and I love the little touches, like your receipt being all folded up nicely and put in a pretty little cardboard holder. It comes with a silky storage bag that it will likely never see. I am happy every time I look at it, take it somewhere, and get to coo over it with a friend. I have not had one second of buyer’s regret. In fact, I may be spoiled for life. My husband, bless him, didn’t even blink, never asked how much it cost. I showed it to him, and he admired the style and the liked the silver hardware, and then went back to what he was doing. Many, many reasons why I love this man.

So. . .that was my indulgence this fall, and I think it will be one that gives me a boost daily for a long time. What big or little things have you done for yourself lately? And if nothing, what would you like to do? The holidays, while fun, can be stressful, and a little self-indulgence is called for, I say. On that theme, maybe I can help you along a little. If you post here, I will pick a winner on Monday morning to receive the basket pictured to the left (the wonderful Joanne Rock and I put it together for you — full of bath items, books, and chocolate!). (Unfortunately, due to increased postage rates, I have to make this a US only giveaway, sorry.)