M.I.A.

Can you believe I've been away six weeks, Blog? Scandalous. I cannot hope to excuse THAT kind of absence, but for lack of anything better to post about, here's my feeble accounting for my long-term silence:

1. You know you can always count on my sharing my crafts, but everything I've been doing all this time is in the Top Secret No Reveal Till After Christmas category. If it helps you to deal with the suspense, here are some tiny hints:

--some of the stuff involves containers, some empty, some not
--some could be used as a weapon, or not
--there's pink

2.  I also know I like to talk about my writing, but I'm still on my long-term authoring hiatus. I did get to do the editing of this book though.  The writing is real nice, I can't wait to see the pictures!

3.  You have in the past enjoyed my sharing about my random nocturnal fantasies, but the storylines of those have been a bit thin lately.  But if you insist on knowing, there have been two I alternate between.

--The one in which I live in a little Jewish village in the early 20th century, have a crush on the town doctor, and get a job as his assistant. This makes more sense if you know that in real life I have a doctor who is Jewish and he's completely awesome.

--The one in which I am hired to do online research for the team of Mr. Finch and Mr. Reese of the show "Person of Interest." Because I really can't help being attracted to Michael Emerson regardless of the role he plays. (Yeah, and my husband meanwhile has a man-crush on Jim Caviezel, so we make quite the pair.)

4. There is an unbelievable quantity of great TV on right now that is simply too good to miss. I watch about 25 shows faithfully right now. Plus some football and hockey. Plus the occasional holiday special and/or "Income Property" rerun. Yes, that was 25 shows. And I'm picky, people--I cut out the shows that are just "good." Anyone who gripes that there's nothing on the Boob Tube these days needs to take another look...it's become just insane. And "Alcatraz" hasn't even started yet.

5. I've been getting too many kicks out of Facebook. It's so easy to share the thrilling stuff in my life there, I just don't get around to putting it here, Blog! Stuff like

--the fabulous drinks I've been making out of the Magic House bar
--video of our newest collectible snowman, "Spaceman" (pronounced "spa-CHAY-man" of course)
--pictures of my cats, oh heck, I'll show you one too, Blog

So I'm sure it's clear why I haven't been posting. If not, I'll spell it out for you, Blog:  L...A...Z...Y.  Perhaps I will do better in the new year.  At least you know after December 25 you'll be seeing some crafts here, including the pink part.

Can't you wait?  Till then, have some happy holidays!

How to have a Birthday Week

Dear heavens, Blog, where have I been? I know, I know, my remissness blog-wise is inexcusable. But the excuse I can give for the past week is that I've been having a Birthday Week (currently on Day 7). And what more festive activity for Day 7 of my Birthday Week than to tell our readers how to have a Birthday Week!

Great decorating job, co-workers!

The foundation of a BW is your birthday itself, natch. Odds are in the busy and complex world of 2011, you are unable to celebrate the day with all your family and friends on the same day. Maybe you and the significant other are planning a romantic dinner, while your parents are hosting you a different day, etc. In my case this year, I had a fun lunch get-together planned with my dad on my birthday itself, a Thursday. Meanwhile, the dinner with husband, daughters, and daughters' BFs was planned for Saturday. So, take these occasions and build your BW around them!

Now, add to the mix any fun activities that happen to be scheduled during the adjacent week. I, for example, had a massage appointment set up for Tuesday. I haven't had a massage in like 10 years, so this definitely qualifies as a special occasion that makes my Tuesday a festive BW day. Maybe your activity is less thrilling, like grocery shopping day, but that doesn't mean you can't make it festive. In that case, you might splurge on a bunch of your favorite entrees, drinks, snacks, or desserts...you know, Blog, make it your dream food shopping spree!

It's the Domes Art Fair!

Another factor that will help you is the scientific fact that every week includes a weekend. And weekends tends to be opportunities for special activities. See what's happening in your town and make it a BW activity. For example, in Milwaukee this was the weekend for the 2nd Annual Domes Art Fair, at which my daughter Katie's boyfriend happened to have a booth. How exciting! And anything exciting is BW fodder, Blog. The early kickoff on Friday meant a checkmark by that day for me.

Taking advantage of fun adventures you always enjoy definitely counts, so Saturday I took a groovy trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum (yep, Saturday was double festive!), and Sunday went to lunch and shopping in lovely downtown Cedarburg.

"The 500 Fingers of Dr. T" rocks.

Sadly, you will still have some weekdays to fill, and at least one will require creative thinking. If your office observes birthdays with treats, bringing in doughnuts, cake or cookies certainly adds a celebratory air to your random Wednesday. And remember, you can have festive fun even in the evening in your humble home. Wednesday evening it was a fab French Silk Sundae from Kopps (an annual treat) and a beloved movie I hadn't seen in 40 years, "Dr. Seuss's The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T." It's a party!

Here's a little tip: Sometimes it can be fun to NOT plan a BW activity and just be on the lookout all day for some happy surprise the universe sends your way. In my case, my blank Monday was made festive when my coworkers surprised me by decorating my office while I was out having a long weekend. Sweet! And it made for a complete seven-day extravaganza of fun.

A couple more suggestions: Birthdays are yet another reason to join Facebook. It's so fun getting greetings all day from your friends all over the world. You don't have to thank each one individually, but I find that doing so just makes each gesture more meaningful. It's a cyberparty all day! Meanwhile, if you can line up your BW with some several-day fun time, like a trip or a visit, that week will rock all the more. I was lucky that my uber-friend Martha stayed with us four fun days.

And that's all there is to it! The added benefit of observing a Birthday Week is that it will teach you to look for fun wherever you are and whatever you do, Blog. It's amazing how having a party attitude makes party feelings materialize on the most ordinary days! And that's a bonus b-day present for sure.

Go shopping at the store that is your own home

Blog, I had a sorta cool idea the other day. Well, yeah, I'm just a font of sorta cool ideas, aren't I? Anyway, you know how sometimes a person just gets an urge to buy something new? I was thinking how, with all the possessions some of us have in affluent nations like the U.S., we can actually satisfy that huge by shopping at home. And no, I don't mean on the Internet.

Here's the thing. Everyone has stuff. On a packrat scale from 1 to 10, in which 1 is "live like a monk" and 10 is "should be on Hoarders," Davie and I are about a 3.5. Nevertheless, we have lots of stuff in our house we seldom think about. We purge our home every six months to a year, so virtually all of it is Keeper Stuff and worth owning.

So why not occasionally take a look at some of said forgotten stuff and see if it can't be enjoyed for awhile? It's almost like getting something new and costs nothing! Let me give you some examples, Blog.

I recently got new salt and pepper grinders from a Pampered Chef fundraising party. In putting them away, I found myself once again organizing my spice cupboard. In doing that, I found a number of spices I've hardly ever used. Like garam masala. I got it for one recipe I wanted to try out last year. So I thought, why not make that recipe again and get some enjoyment out of this spice I own? So I did, and it was even tastier than I remembered. (Here's the recipe for Hot Dogs a la Rose.)

Meanwhile, a couple days ago I tossed out a plant that had seen better days, and used the pot it was in for another plant that needed more space. In the original plant I had put some glass rocks I got from who-knows-where, who-knows-when. (We all have some belongings like that, right?) So, I cleaned up these rocks. Like rocks often do, they looked better wet than dry. So I tried the same trick on them that I often use on polymer clay items: I painted them with a couple coats of Future acrylic floor polish.

What will I do with these rocks? I might just put them on display, or incorporate them in an art project. At any rate, I will enjoy them until it's time to rotate them out for something else cool that I own. The key to this idea is clear from two famous adages: "Familiarity breeds contempt" and "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." We take for granted what we experience every day...we love stuff that has been gone awhile. So, Blog,  why not get more out of what we already have by replacing familiar stuff with sorta-forgotten stuff?

A few ideas of where you can shop in your own home forgotten stuff:

• Boxes of clothing you wore years ago. Some may be back in style or can be converted to a fun new purpose like a costume or a throw pillow. That tie-dyed tee shirt would work for either!
• Wedding presents on the back shelves. Make use of that vase, dish, or candle holder out in the open for awhile.
• Your old photo albums and scrapbooks. Seriously, when's the last time you just sat down to enjoy old memories? So many of us take photos or scrapbook, going through a lot of effort, but forget to enjoy the fruits of our labor later.
• Your jewelry box. A lot of people fall into the rut of wearing the same rings, necklaces, etc. Bring out something new--it might go great with some outfit you got recently!
• The scented candle cupboard. If you're like me you have a bunch but can't possibly display them all. Bring out a new one and burn it for a fresh experience for your nose.
• Your recipe box. Take a run through your collection; I'll bet you find something you love to eat but forgot you know how to make! 
• Your cosmetic cabinet/drawer. Another thing a lot of us have is soaps, lotions, facial scrubs, and other spa-items we haven't touched in awhile. Give yourself a facial, a bubble bath, a foot massage.
• Your game cupboard. I bet somewhere you have an old board game you haven't touched in a decade. Might be fun to play again some night!
• The closet where you keep the pictures you took down. We all get tired of the stuff on our walls and replace it from time to time. But the replaced art can be nice enough to keep. So why not see if there's some piece their you'd like to look at on the wall again?

You get the idea, Blog. Now, imagine if we all thought about shopping at home once a week...we'd get a lot more enjoyment out of our own belongings, and it wouldn't cost us a penny! I'm just sayin'.

We went to Savannah, you should too!

Did you miss me, Blog? Well, I missed you too, but I didn't miss the craptastic weather that was going on here in Wisconsin. Meanwhile, where I was it was sunny and in the 70s! Like spring should be! That's just one of the reasons why I highly recommend a vacation in Savannah, Georgia. Here are some more!

1. The unbelievable beauty of the place. I guess modern architects don't totally suck (Santiago Calatrava for example, the designer of Milwaukee's spectacular art museum).  But they did know how to build homes back in the 18th and 19th centuries. And public spaces. The 22 squares of Savannah are so beautiful, especially this time of year. The city has got to be one of the best places in America to find restored buildings...you can explore for days and not see them all. Here are a few fave examples, brought to you by ICU, my camera.

Me and Davie in front of the famous fountain in Forsyth Park

2.  The live oaks. That's what they call the prevailing trees in Savannah, "live" because they do not go dormant. I guess they lose their leaves once a year but immediately get new ones. These trees are known for the broad spread of their branches, making them pretty much the best shade tree imaginable. They are also super strong and long-lived. Many of the trees in Savannah were here before the birth of the United States! I totally fell in love with them.

The Candler Oak dates from ~1730

3.  The flowers. While we're on the subject of flora, if you travel to Savannah in late March/early April, the flowers are at their peak of bloom. And they are everywhere, especially the glorious white and pink azaleas. Our patio is nice in the summer, but not quite on this level. Wow, Blog.

4. The history. Even if you're not so much a history buff, you have to appreciate being in a place that was key to the original settlement of America, the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War. We saw the room General Lafayette slept in during his post-Revolutionary War tour of the U.S., and ate dinner in a building (The Olde Pink House) that was built in 1771 and used as a headquarters for the Union Army. So many places have remained much like they looked back in those days, like Factors Walk which was a commerce center for cotton in pre-Civil War days.

The Olde Pink House

Factor's Walk

5. The food. Speaking of The Olde Pink House, that is one amazing place to eat, Blog. In fact, we found scrumptious dining all over the Historic District. The seafood in this place is to die for. I don't know if I can eat the shrimp from Pick N Save ever again! There's also all kinds of quaintness in the dining locales. From the fabulous river view at Huey's to the elegant old charm of the Gryphon Tea Room, we loved eating in Savannah.

BLT salad and Southern Sushi from The Olde Pink House

Ceiling at the Gryphon Tea Room

6. The shopping. Savannah does have its share of touristy shopping, but it also has scads of fantastic boutiques that showcase the work of talented artists and artisans. (Intentional pun: SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design, is a big influence here.) We treated ourselves both to a print of the trees (see #2) and to this fantastic glass piece which we call the Time Tunnel Orb.

This just scratches the surface of the joys of Savannah, Blog. It's simply the most beautiful place I've ever visited. I'll put it to you this way: I had a fabulous time last year in Vegas but I didn't cry when I left! I comfort myself by thinking that right now in Savannah, those live oaks stand faithfully shading the lovely streets and squares, as they have for hundreds of years and hopefully will for hundreds more.

My gift: "Gift of Flesh"

Blog, I haven't posted in what is sometimes referred to as "a coon's age."  And you know how old coons can get.  Anyway, I feel really guilty so I decided I needed to do something nice for our faithful readers.

Not everyone out there in Blogland (named, of course, after you, Blog) is aware, but I offer a number of my books for free via a little something called the LBR Press READ FREE Project.  It's some of my erotic romance stories, a couple less racy romances, and my Star Wars romance novel.  Yeah, you heard that right.  It's not like I can charge for it without R2D2 and C3PO's lawyers coming after me.  Anyhoo, they are offered free to be read online or downloaded in pdf and lit formats if you sign up.

However, the truly cool formats of today happen to be ePub (for nook, Kobo, Sony eReader, iPad, etc.) and Kindle.  So, just to make it up to our readers, I've just today published my uber-popular erotic romance novella Gift of Flesh in ePub and Kindle and you can download them from those very links!  (By the way, I discovered that in many cases a person downloaded the ePub version may find it arriving with a .zip extension.  Don't unzip it...just change "zip" in the file name to "epub" and you'll have a dandy epub book.)


In Gift of Flesh, Miakaela, who was raised as a concubine, now finds herself chosen by the Monarch of her land as a Gift of Flesh for a neighboring king. Envoy Naissun is commanded by that king to bring her safely through the rough journey to his harem. Tormented by his conscience and a growing affection for Miakaela, Naissun struggles to find a moral and practical answer to this quandary. But of course, first they must make it through the trip alive... In a medieval fantasy setting, two complex characters are torn: should they choose pragmatism and duty, or rebellion?

Enticing, eh Blog?  But wait...Blog, are you over 18?  Because you need to be before you download this novella.  That's something more than a coon's age, you know.

In the Library Reviews called Gift of Flesh "a riveting story with a thrilling conclusion."  Ecataromance said it was "a superb gift."  Fallen Angel Reviews called it "a story that will hold readers from the first word to the last."

And personally, I'm very fond of this story and of its two lovely protagonists.  I hope there are plenty of people out there with ebook readers (or just install the nook reader or the Kindle reader on your computer or smartphone for free) who will accept my repentant offering and download Gift of Flesh.  Meanwhile, you can also visit the LBR Press READ FREE Project to see the other free titles I offer there (online read, pdf or lit only).

And I promise not to let another coon's age pass before I post again, Blog!  Or I may have to offer MORE free nook and Kindle stories!  Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Where were Blog and I yesterday?

Blog, as you well know since you have been there for it all, since I started this blog some five weeks ago I’ve been posting six or seven times a week. So what happened yesterday? Where was that post that our vast readership, rivaled only by the number of Facebook fans of Twilight, desperately craved?

Well, I’ll tell you, readers. Blog has put me on a special training regimen. This regimen tests me to my limits. It requires determination, discipline, and even that elusive quality known as “pluck.” What is the regimen?

Blog says sometimes I just have to not post.

Those who know me well understand that I am like a dog with a bone when it comes to fixating on projects. I have an almost superstitious fear of missing deadlines, even deadlines for stuff for which I am not paid, like my gig doing a monthly column for Novelspot.net. I believe haven’t missed a deadline there in over three years. When my publisher went under in 2006, I went on a rampage expanding my publishing company to offer my large backlist plus a new title, all in a month, while holding down my day job. Why? Because I’m Slightly Psycho.

So Blog has suggested I work on this problem. I’m very proud to say, not only did I not post yesterday, I was five days late with my column for Novelspot. Blog gave me not one but two gold stars on the little chart on the fridge which he has called “Diana’s Leak Off List.”

Blog says these adaptations of behavior patterns will extend my life as well as give me a slightly better, but still not good, chance of being considered sane by family and friends.

So, I just want everyone to be aware, this six-or-seven times a week posting may or may not occur.

Oops. Blog just told me a normal person would simply not always post, without feeling the need to talk about it. Shoot. I suppose I should really delete this whole post. But that would mean going two days without one.

I’m just not ready for that kind of leap forward. But please don’t take away my gold stars, Blog!

[P.S., and don’t tell Blog I added this: If you’d like, you can read my latest column for Novelspot. I do recommend it for aspiring authors who’d like to hear the big lessons I learned from getting a lucrative book contract--stuff they really need to know, I think.  But if you tell Blog, he’ll think this was just my way of making up for yesterday’s missing post.  He knows me so well.]