Marguerite Labbe's Blog, page 6

New Cover Art - Make Me Whole

Isn't it amazing? This cover was commissioned by Melissa Gay and she did a fabulous job capturing the essence of the story. I'm so excited. Even the rough version that was originally sent blew me away.

I also received edits for the story on Friday so I'm hoping to get them done soon and hoping to get the official blurb. But for now, I'm content to ogle poor lonely Dexios a little bit longer.

Story Picture Monday - Until the Lilacs Bloom

Ever since my son was a few years old we'd go to the Outer Banks for a week with some friends from high school and college. At first we used to go around Mother's Day, until the year it storm almost the entire week, then we switched to the fall and now go Labor Day week. We've arrived twice right after a hurricane, but we've been lucky to have sunny days while we are there.
We love the Outer Banks. It's quiet and laid back. I really get a chance to relax there. Some nights we go out, other nights we go to the farmer's market and the whole gang eats around the table. We look forward to this trip the entire year. Twelve weeks and counting till the next one!

I took these pictures the last night we were on vacation the last time we were in the Outer Banks. We've been all up and down the coast but I believe this time we were around Nags Head.

The Outer Banks is the setting in two stories actually. The final third of Ghosts in the Wind took place here as Andrei hunted down a killer. But in my new story, Until the Lilacs Bloom, it's a much more peaceful setting. In fact, it's on a summer night just like this where AJ and Trey share their first kiss. They'd taken the Jeep out after dinner to have a little privacy to talk and figure out their attraction to each other. Then stretched out on the blanket and watched the waves come in. I wish you could see the colors in the water the way I'd seen them that night and the way Trey sees them. These pictures don't do it justice at all. 

Six Sentence Sunday - Until the Lilacs Bloom

Until the Lilacs Bloom is a story that I’ve been poking at for years. It was originally a coming of age story, but it’s involved to follow the two friends, AJ and Trey, through a couple of decades after Trey’s battle with childhood cancer. In the first third, which is the part I’m working on now, they’re spending the summer in the Outer Banks, after Trey goes into remission. AJ is getting ready for college and trying to come to terms with his sexuality. And Trey is trying to picture a life ahead of him and learning to exert his independence again.

* * * * *

“If I get sick again you won’t stop being my friend will you?”

The question speared through him with a profound shock and all thoughts of kissing the afternoon away disappeared. AJ frowned and started to say that Trey wasn’t going to get sick again then stopped himself. It’s not what Trey asked and the bullshit response would probably just irk him. Whether or not he got sick again was out of their hands entirely, they couldn’t control that, but he could give him other assurances. “Yeah, I’ll still be your friend.” 

Contests and Excerpts

Today I'm blogging at Book Brew with the Coffee Crew with a whole bunch of other authors. This month's theme is cops and detectives. The Coffee Crew at is giving away a $25 gift certificate to one random commenter and other authors are giving away a few prizes as well.

I'm posting two excerpts from Ghosts in the Wind and giving away some copies of the book. Stop by at http://coffeetimeromance.com/CoffeeThoughts and read all the fun stuff going on. If you're interested in winning a copy of my ghost story, the first post I put up is titled "Ghosts and Detectives" the other one that I'll upload before I leave work today is "Love Stories."

I hope you enjoy and good luck!

Love,

Margie

Mancandy Thursday

I can't figure out how to load things on Pinterest. It keeps freezing, but I have discovered how to find things and this is one that immediately grabbed me. Amazing isn't it? He needs a story. 
If anyone wants to drop a prompt idea I'll put it in the plot bunny hutch and see if anything breeds out of it.
:-D

Wednesday Updates – Submissions and Paperwork Oh My

Please excuse me if I come across a little punch drunk in this post. I’m coming off of several months worth of conventions, deadlines and… there was something else in that list but my mind seems to have let it fade away. Needless to say, it’s been a very hectic, but fun time and I’m ready for a bit of a break. 


I know I mentioned that I recently signed a contract with Dreamspinner Press for Make Me Wholewhich I think is coming out sometime in August. I just finished the paper with details for the cover and somewhere in the last couple of weeks I did the paperwork for the blurb. Thank the lord for people who write blurbs, if it were up to me it wouldn’t sound nearly as interesting. So I’m hoping, soon, to have things to share with you. Plus I heard that the translation for All Bets Are Off into Italian is going well too. I’m still ridiculously excited about that.


I believe I mentioned my baseball themed novella, which I did end up naming Wild Pitch. (Hee that rhymes. See K-lee, sometimes I can rhyme!) I finally finished that on Monday night after spending three days in Myrtle Beach for XCon. The best part about the trip was getting to hang with William Cooper again (who is always fun) and meeting Michael Knost who shared a table with my husband.


So that’s the newest info. Later on this week I’ll download some of the pictures from the cons and share them so you can see the depth of my geekiness. If you haven’t already figured it out. I’m sure you have, I’m pretty blatant about it.
 

Six Paragraph Sunday - Make Me Whole

Hello everybody, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s out there. We had a nice low key day, my husband made breakfast, my son fetched coffee with me. Then we had two dinners, one with my mom and sisters, then immediately after, with my mother and sister in law. Needless to say I’m stuffed silly, but we all had a good time together.In honor of Mother’s Day, I’m posting six paragraphs instead of sentences from Make Me Whole. Galen is waiting at the hospital for news of his friend and is desperate need of some comfort from his mother.I should be getting edits for the museum story soon. I’m looking forward to diving back into their story.  * * * * *
This time when the door opened he didn’t move. He continued to stare at the magazine, his brain still caught in the same looping thoughts of wishing Nick were here, all mixed in with worry over Suzane, and attempts to think more positive before he had a meltdown. Someone sat down next to him and Galen was enveloped by the scent of a very familiar perfume.Galen’s eyes stung as he looked over at his mom. She’d always had a knack for showing up whenever one of her kids needed her the most. He didn’t know what instinct led her, but it was dead on. And now she was here with her too curly, graying hair pulled back into a messy bun, with her faded T-shirt, worn sweat pants, and enormous purse stuffed to the point of not being able to snap shut. She must have come straight from the gym, determined to lose the last twenty pounds that she’d been trying to lose for as long as he could remember. He kind of hoped it never happened.“I picked up Suzane’s son from his class and he’s talking with the head nurse now,” Anna Kanellis said without preamble and pulled out a tin of mints from her purse. She popped two in her mouth and offered him the tin. “How’d you know I was here?” Galen asked and took a mint for himself. “I called the museum looking for you and Heather told me what happened. I got a hold of your sister and she’s going over to help.” She fixed him with a stern look over the rim of her glasses. “You take on too much. You need to stop and ask for help sometimes. It really won’t hurt your pride, I swear. Maybe sting it, but you’re a big boy, you can take it.”Galen scrubbed a hand over his face. Oh God. Heather. He hadn’t even thought about her running the place by herself, especially after the scare she had. He was an idiot. “Thanks, Mom.” He’d have to call and give her an update as soon as he had one.

Six Sentence Sunday – Wild Pitch/Limbo

Hello everybody, I know I've been quiet lately. There's been so much going on, but I'll update you later in the week with all the exciting news. But for now, here's a little bit from my baseball themed novella. I'm going back and forth between two titles Wild Pitch and Limbo. So you might see it posted as either. I'm hoping by the time I finish the rough I'll have settled on one. The deadline for this is very tight, that's one of the reasons why I've been so quiet. That and work is crazy. I'll be happy when things settle down some. But for now, here's my Six Sentence Sunday and the rough blurb. I hope you enjoy.

* * * * *“I think I’ve given him hell enough over the state of his equipment that the hero worship has gotten tarnished.” Alan grinned, a wicked curve of his lips and his eyes glinted with challenge. “You do realize that your team doesn’t stand a chance against mine don’t you? I have the best batting lineup in the county.”“Keep telling yourself that, Hartner,” Ruben retorted. “With the pitchers I have, your boys won’t even get a chance to hit.”
* * * * *For as long as Ruben Martell has known him, he’s been in love with his best friend Alan Hartner. They played together, traveled together, and publically dueled on opposite teams. Now years later, they’re both retired from the majors, running a business together, and coaching rival Little League teams. And in all those years, Ruben hasn’t given up hope that Alan might return his feelings one day, but now he’s starting to believe that Alan will never chose to move beyond the memory of his late wife.
Alan quit the game at the height of his career to take care of his sons, and the one constant he’s been able to rely on is Ruben. And in all that time he has tried to forget about the night everything changed, only being with Ruben on a day-to-day basis is weakening his resolve. They’d stepped over the line before and it had hurt their friendship and left Alan with a guilt he didn’t know how to handle. Alan doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that friendship now, even if it mean denying the feelings he’s kept locked away for so long.

Updates - Lots of Exciting Things Lately

Though of course as I sit down to write this, some of what I wanted to report is slipping my mind. I need a cute keeper, or at least write these things down as they come to me. Oh well, the first exciting news, which might not really be news since I'd already twittered it, is that All Bets Are Off is being translated. I'm so excited that I haven't been able to contain myself. :-D I can't wait to see how it looks. First, it'll be in Italian, but Spanish, French and German will follow.


I am going to get to go to GRL this year. I managed to get the time off of work and to wiggle into one of the spots as a featured author. I'm excited, GRL is such a fun time. I've met so many wonderful people there and I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. Atlanta baby, here I come. Another nice thing about it being there is that I can visit with some of my husband's family too.

I will be submitting Make Me Whole tomorrow. Tonight I'm working on finishing the synopsis and tweaking the blurb. I'm excited about getting Galen and Nick out the door and turning to new characters and new stories. Here is the rough blurb:


After a grueling battle in Ancient Greece, lovers Dexios and Lykon make a vow to commit to each other in the Goddess Cythera’s name. When the war is over, Lykon breaks the vow and returns home, because he fears the emotions Dexios raises in him. Heartbroken, Dexios calls to Cythera and she changes him into a series of unfinished statues to wait for his fickle lover to be reborn to break the curse.

Thousands of years later, Galen Kanellis finds the statues in his museum storeroom and is determined to have them as a part of his new exhibit. He turns to his ex-lover for information on the statues, despite the estrangement between them. Before he wasn’t ready for what Nick offered, but he wants another chance if Nick is willing to give him one. Nick Charisteas had dreamed of finding the Dexios Collection his entire life. The last thing he expected was for it to wind up in the hands of the man who had broken his heart. Nick wants to be with him, only he knows to break the statues’ curse, he’s going to have to have his heart broken again.

Both men are going to have to let go of the past and put their faith in each other and the future if their relationship is going to work. But as the statues start to change with Lykon joining Dexios, they find themselves tested. Galen and Nick are going to have to search deep to find the power to heal each other to make themselves and the statues whole once more.

I'm still working on the weight loss too and learning a lot about how much I think a portion is and how much it actually is. And I've managed to start moving around more. So it's coming off, slowly, but I'm okay with that as long as I keep seeing progress in my energy levels and elsewhere too. So far I've lost 3.2 and I've actually gotten used to taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator though my knees weren't too happy that first week!

The Risks of Substituting for Your Son's Class

So my husband has recently started working again. He’s substitute teaching in our county and still working on getting his comics going. He’s come home with some great stories and he seems to be really enjoying himself, though he’s having some encounters he never expected. Last Friday he was subbing at my son’s school, running the computer lab. And my son’s class happened to have computer lab that day. In the midst of doing their projects, one little girl called my husband over, now this particular little girl has had a crush on my son for ages, and so has her friend.
Little girl: “Can I ask you a question and will you tell me the truth?”Husband: “Sure. What do you need?”Little girl points to her friend who is listening to the conversation: “Which one of us do you think Chris should get with?”My husband blinks several times as he scrambles for an answer. “Um, I’m staying out that. That’s between you, her and Chris.”
The little girl actually took that in stride and thanked my husband, lol. But I’m seriously starting to get visions of how crazy it’s going to be in a few years. I’m not sure I’m ready for it.