Debra Anastasia's Blog, page 57

New books on my shelves: POUGHKEEPSIE BY DEBRA ANASTASIA

New books on my shelves: POUGHKEEPSIE BY DEBRA ANASTASIA: Synopsis He counts her smiles every day and night at the train station. And morning and evening, the beautiful commuter acknowledges...


The pictures on this one were just stunning! 

Welcome Lillie Spencer to the blog today! I recently had ...

Welcome Lillie Spencer to the blog today! I recently had the opportunity to interview her about her awesome story, MANHUNT.





So you've had the journey of MANHUNT with you for a while, what is your favorite part about releasing it into the world?




It took me three years to go from writing this book, having it win two awards, and then nothing for a long time before finally getting it published. Note to aspiring writers - Never Give Up, Never Surrender! I think my favorite part is the wonderful feedback I have received from people who've read it. Their comments always make me smile, and I like thinking that in some small way my story made their day a little bit brighter.

Tell me what your perfect writing day is like!

I'm a night owl, so my best writing usually takes place after I get the kids and hubby to sleep and things are quiet. I'll make a pot of tea or have a glass of wine, put on some music and just type. I used to outline how I wanted the story arc to go before I started writing, but it never ended up the way I outlined. It always took on a life of its own.  MANHUNT was certainly that way, and I love how it turned out.  Now I tend to just let the story take me where it wants to go.

How do people react when they find out you are an author?

I'm a soccer mom on the PTO board with a background in wildlife biology who used to work for Disney. Needless to say, it always surprises people when they find out I have a romance novelist alter-ego. 
 
What is your favorite romantic song that corresponds to your new book?


"What About Now" by Daughtry, definitely.


What are some of the most important risks you've ever taken?

I dropped out of college and took on three jobs to put my husband (then fiancé) through school. Everyone thought I was crazy at the time, but true love won out. It turned out to be a risk well worth taking. He's now a rocket scientist, literally, and a wonderful husband and father.  I'd go through hell and high water before I let my own daughter do something so stupid, but it worked out for me.

Buy it at: Amazon ~ Barnes and Noble ~ All Romance Books ~ Tulipe Noire PressFollow me: Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Blog



Thanks Lillie!  

Disney Trip #2 Chapter 1.35

Because I can't ever stay on track, I'm going off the "plot" to tell you some stories about cars. Shhhh. Tits totally painless. Mostly.


Maybe it only happens in my house. Mr. A kindly bought me the minivan of my dreams. He drives our crap vehicle. The one that you need two feet to drive, even though it's not standard shift. And the windows only work some of the time. I appreciate his sacrifice for my princess-like comfort. But apparently, an inspection goes on that I don't know about. As he comes in the house he "notices" our van. He's checking for damage. Every day.


The other day he walks in to the kitchen where I'm happily dancing the jiggler around. Big smiles.

He says, "There's a ding in the van"

No response from me, still smiling, less dancy, trying to pretend like I'm listening.

He tries again, "There's a ding in the front hood."

Me ~"Maybe it's from the storm the other night? A tree branch or something."

Him ~"No."

How the hell does he know it wasn't a tree branch? Coulda been. What is he the Columbo of the dings?

Him ~ "Looks like a rock."

Here he throws in a pregnant pause. Full of accusation.

Me ~ "Huh, you think the storm kicked up a rock?"

Silence from Mr. A. Then, the grilling stare. Like I'm in an interview room down in the precinct. He adds the always pleasant eyebrow arch.

Isn't that sumthin? Does he think that I wouldn't notice a rock banging on the hood of the van while driving it?

Need I mention that he has been driving the van both times we had damage to my princess mobile? Blew out the back window backing into a ladder and was at the helm when a actual rock hit the actual van and exploded out the back window (again)?

No, I won't mention that.

Granted, the women in my family have a crappy car history. Locking keys in running vehicles. Arriving to a lunch date in two cars leaving in one and forgetting about the second car. Until the next day.

But my sister has the worst stories of all. I was a passenger for one particular story. She was driving her spiffy Ford Feastiva. 

In the middle of the road, there was about a three foot high pile of manure that must have fallen off a farm truck, hay sticking out of it. Sis is doing about 55 miles per hour, headed straight for it.

Me (all calm) ~ "What ya gonna do about that pile?"

Her (all calm) ~"I'm going to put it between the tires."

Holy Crapamoly! Ever see a Feastiva? I have worn Maxi pads bigger than that car. I was sure we were about to launch Duke's of Hazards style over this giant pile of ****. I had to watch though. Couldn't believe my eyes. Like seeing a snake try and eat an elephant.

Boom, we hit. God Bless that little car, it didn't go airborne. But the grinding noise of the grill eating that mound of crap was alarming. Thudding and smooshing over it, my sister refused to let up on the gas. It was fun seeing my Dad's face when we pulled in the driveway. Her car always smelled like poop after that.


Needless to say it wasn't me. The ding. I blame him.


What did I say was up next last time? Retirement Jail, G-pa's 90th, More food poisoning ala chicken and more biting bugs? and of course "Princess Down, I repeat, we have a Princess down!"

Carol Oates

Is my wicked awesome friend that pimped my Poughkeepsie trailer and last night she hit my box with these things:

 
Are you freaking kidding me? I almost fell out of bed. Who has this kind of talent stuffed up thier sleeves? My girl Carol, that's who.
Did you know she's an amazing author as well?
Check it for FREE:
http://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-ebook/dp/B005HAU2WY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339509728&sr=1-1

She also has two other full length, kick ass books as well and one is about ANGELS! Plus another free one! I highly recommend.

http://www.amazon.com/Carol-Oates/e/B005ANRTHO/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Sweet Mother of Fudge Ch. 1 1/2

Ahhh. Nothing like leaving for Florida. The Butt Crack of Dawn nowhere in site. Everything is sparkling with promise. 3:30am is a weird time of the day to be hyped up . There's a 14 hour ride in front of you. It was hard leaving the inmates. Peanut, the cocker spaniel who loves to “wookie” talk in the morning. She's not a licker, but she will put her mupplet paws on your legs and her spongy wet nose 1 millimeter from yours, staring at you. No licking, just the threat of licking.

Spike, a little maltipoo, (not much malti and more poo) that was rescued and delivered to us from Wyoming. He spends most of his time being cross-dressed by my daughter. He is a good sport about it. He's a licker and will dance on his hind legs to get close to some lickable hand.

Snowy, another pound rescue. She's a spitz mix. She can perfectly imitate a baby seal about to be clubbed. This dog is the one we will always want to clone in later years. She's like Nana from Peter Pan. She can be without a leash and stays with the kids in the yard. She insists on laying on the floor next to any sleeping member of the family. She's wonderful.

But, alas, they must stay with the pet sitter. Back to the van. Packed for my four separate trips. Our plan --fueled by our excitement- is to drive straight through. After our last trip’s nightmare, this plan gives me the tremors. (Remember the handicapped gentleman who was going to smoke cigarettes with every hole he had, and a few of my own?!) But the Anastasias are stubborn. Our ETA at my parent’s house is around 7-8pm that evening .

We're settling in, I'm playing the early morning game with the defroster, where you're talking happy talk with your husband and kids and then BAM The inside of your vehicle fogs up like David Copperfield is in your third row seat making the Statue of Liberty disappear .
 
Me to Mr. the King ~ ”All fans on high Captain, temperature set at the magical mid-way point between the hot triangle and the cold triangle” 

Do the Mickey salute to inspire confidence.
 
And then just when you think you won’t win and the fog will overtake you and force you off the road like one of the movies they show in the 50’s sci fi drive in Theatre. You win, the fog abates. But stay alert, it could attack at any moment between 3:30 am and 5:30 am.
 

In between my foggy battles, I've a game plan for the excited kids. Tinkerbell Gifts. You see Tinkerbell delivers green wrapped presents to the kids along the way. The first gift goes like this
 
Me ~ ”Hey kids, do you smell something?”
 
Kids ~”Yeah it’s like flowers or vanilla”
 
Me~ “I remember that smell from when I was a kid driving to Florida with Grandma and Grandpa, it was a Tinkerbell fart. Every time I smelled it I would look around the car to see if she left a surprise”
 
Kids~ Staring at me with wide eyes and eyebrows up
 
Me~ “A good surprise! Not related to the farting”
 
Kids ~ Frantic searching and locating of a Disney themed travel present. Both, without prompting, “Thank you Tinkerbell”!!

As the day gets brighter they start the game of: “ I SAW her!!” 

Birds, sparkling parts of pavement and little holes in clouds where sun peaked through became magic following us down I-95. I do believe BC was on to me, but played along for his sister.

The kids. I'm crazy about my kids. My son's going to be 10 this year. He's pure goodness and such a gentleman. He loves cars, planes and trains . He's such an easy child to be around. His patience with GC is legendary.

My daughter. Big, Blinky green eyes. She's feisty with a great sense of humor and she adores animals. Animals also adore her, no matter what she does to them [image error] .
 
I like Magic in this house. I'm grateful that the kids and Mr. A put up with it. Christmas time sees elaborate ridiculousness, including but not limited to, reindeer poop out on the deck on Christmas eve. 

(It was such fun when I walked over and popped a piece in my mouth declaring it delicious, the taste reminds me of melted Hershey kisses.)
 
Back in our Van, we're making “good time." That’s what everyone says right? When visitors arrive and you inquire when they left, then your standard reply is, “Oh, you made good time." 

What does that mean? I only knew two men who actually “made good time” in the sense that a trip took less time than it should. Both drove like maniacs, the type of car that flies by you and you say things like, “Rather have that fool in front of me than behind me” or “He’s got a date with a telephone pole and can’t be late” etc.
 

So really, we never want to “Make good time." We stop for breakfast in McDonald’s. Turns out the lower half of I-95 only has one official rest stop per state. Us travelers are expected to have steel-walled bladders for that system to work out. Otherwise you do the cheating rest stop. In McDonald’s. You slip in the side door, do your ditty, and sneak back out to the van without buying anything in the store. I feel guilty about that. Mr. A says he eats at McDonald’s plenty of times without using the restroom so he and McDonald’s are pretty much even. This particular McDonald’s got the full Monty, pee and some of my money. 

Now, where I'm from they've banned smokers from exhibiting anything that looks like smoking in public. So I was shocked to see smoking in restaurants. This McDonald’s had many signs and rules about smoking which made me laugh. The first one said “No Smoking in Line.” The “Smoking section” was about 2 steps from this sign. In another 2 steps you were in the Magical “No smoking” section. All the sections and rules were taking place in an open space just a little bigger than my kitchen. It was laid out such that if you were, perchance, a smoker, you'd have to smoke about four separate cigarettes to travel amongst the signage with out breaking any rules.
 

The food was sub-par. And you have to work really hard to make McDonald’s food any worse than it already is. But the Piece de ‘resistance was a particular art print on the wall. As if the sad, 70’s decor, the multi-cigaretted smokers and the greasy food weren’t enough, there on the wall to enhance the mood was a picture of Ronald the creepy clown. Now he's scary when he's happy. (I'm not a fan of clowns). This Ronald was depicted with his head tilted in agony with one single tear sliding down his cheek (He was even done up in Artistic Black and White.) It was enough to give me nightmares for a month. Ever see the sweet, heartbreaking picture with a dejected Mickey Mouse with one single tear? Gosh that's effective. I don’t even care what Mickey’s crying about I'm going to cry too. I just want to scoop that mouse up and cover him with glitter and chocolate until he smiles again.

But Crying Ronald is all wrong. Really any Ronald is all wrong but crying black and white Ronald in the smoking/no smoking section is well…just creeptastic

I brushed away the horror show and pictured myself sucking down fabulous orange juice in the Florida Welcome Center and we resumed “Making good time.”
Up Next: We arrive at Grandma and Grandpa’s place. Do retirement parks have Jail? 


 

In Person!

http://www.baltimorebookfestival.com/








I will be appearing here all three days! I'd LOVE to meet up with you. Please let me know if you will be in the area and we can tear up Baltimore together.

Snapping Turtle Tries to Kill Me

Okay, funny story, I was taking my asshole dogs to the groomer, who I love but they're on a farm and very colorful speakers.  So I as I pull up to their driveway, I notice a sweet, huge turtle trying to cross the road. I almost always stop if it's safe to aid those helpless fuckers, but I parked instead of stopping in the road because I wasn't so sure about this guy.

He had a huge, long pointy tail and his head was like the knot in a tree and I had a blonde brain fart --vaguely remembering that somewhere, someone told me turtles can make you their bitch. 

But I thought, "Well, hell it's a turtle. I'll just be careful and grab him by the ass." 

But I parked and went inside first, hoping I wouldn't witness his smooshing death on the pretty busy road because of my caution. 

I pointed him out to the groomer's assistant and she said, "Oh fuck, that's a snapper. Shit girl, glad you didn't try and touch it." (Yes, that is word for word, I love these ladies!) 

And I follow her out thinking, "Overreacting much?" 

Damn. 

She went into the woods and got a huge stick that was as thick as my dick, if I had one.  

She looks at me and says, "Hope this is thick enough." 

She heads at the ugly turtle like he's a fistful of cobras. So I watch. She walks out into the road and starts poking him. 

"These things are vicious fuckers."

And I'm all like, "A turtle? Seriously?" 

Then EVERYTHING I EVER KNEW changed. My view of turtles would forever be altered! I was startled as it turned around, looked her dead in the eye, and tried to take a huge bite out of the stick!! 

A turtle!! So, long story longer-- I go into my van and grab a fold-able soccer chair. I won't let this lady die a horrible death in front of me without at least trying to help her. 

The assistant looks over her shoulder and says, "Now he's 'bout to RISE UP!" 

And for hairy ball's sake he DID!! That fucking thing got on its tip toes and lashed its head back and forth! 

Who KNEW? So I say, "Damn let's let it get run over!" 

Because I'm a real animal lover but this thing just went all Voldemort on our asses. 

She refused and insisted on getting it across the road. Then it starts charging US! All this time, we're in the center of the damn road, her with a stick, me with a chair and I have to poke it to defend myself as IT CLASPS ONTO MY CHAIR! 

So, I've no idea what to do I don't want to hurt it, but who knows what it can do with a weapon? It weighs as much as a bowling ball and I try and shake it off. The snapper falls down and ROLLS OVER ninja-style! A TURTLE! At this point, I'm laughing so damn hard I can't help they lady any more, and I don't think I was helping anyway.  I decide to back up, piss my pants, and watch for cars. 

The assistant is like the snapper turtle whisperer and she gets it on their neighbor's property. Then she has to warn the people in the house that the Chuck Norris of turtles is in their yard, ready to kill their asses. And that was that. My dog's got groomed, I warned my kids against the dangers of turtles and DAMN. 
 
Who knew?

Then I googled that shit and found two videos to show you what they can do to you! The first one is hilarious. I was not expecting to cackle at an informational video.  






Then, I found this one of a HUGE turtle eating a watermelon. and I thought of my meaty thighs and I was grateful I made it out alive.

May 2012 Readers Choice Awards: Vote here!

May 2012 Readers Choice Awards: Vote here! please vote for my crazy ass! One click, one vote! Thanks so much.

One Holy Hell Crushed Seraphim is 1!!!

What? Crushed Seraphim is One!


That's ridiculous, I just wrote it a few minutes ago. Not really. This year has whizzed by like something that whizzes fastly. That's not even a word. Whatever.


(This graphic is by Shannon Lummetta, she is a genius and gorgeous and flexible)





How about this?:


I know, right?


I can't stop watching it either. To celebrate this amazing achievement, I'm giving away a big blob of awesomeness.


Check it:






What you have there is a signed copy of Crushed Seraphim, a handmade crystal charm bracelet (Crushed Seraphim themed!), a fucking bookmark and a signed copy of Poughkeepsie, two wicked sharp temporary tats, another fucking bookmark and another handmade crystal charm bracelet that's Poughkeepsie themed.


But what makes this giveaway so sexy is a special guest!


The winner gets a fifteen minute gchat with Satan Jack!!! He's dirty, he's sexy and he lives in HELL, so you know he's hot.


I couldn't take a picture of that to show off, so I will just give you a little Johnny instead:






And to top off the awesome like an awesome nipple, below is a list of links where you can comment and possibly win an eCopy of Crushed Seraphim! Look at all of these amazing blogs:


1 The Autumn Review May 25th
2 Dhark Portal May 24th


3 Sam, E and R Awesomeness May 24th, 25th








4 Omnific Publishing Blog May 24th

http://omnificpublishing.blogspot.com/


5. Good Choice Reading May 24th http://www.goodchoicereading.com/

6 Library Mosaic- May 24th




7 Book Passion 4 Life May 24th
8 Total Bookaholic May 26th







9 Bookgasmic

 Bookgasmic Youtube Channel! May 24th  Raving Book Addict

 

10 Nicole About Town May 25th
http://www.nicoleabouttown.com/


11 The Lit Bitch May 24th, 25th, 26th



12 Open Book Society May 24th http://openbooksociety.com/

13 Rachel Firasek-May 25th







14 Bookish Temptations - May 24th
http://bookishtemptations.com/

15 Scandalicious Book Reviews- May 25th


 16 She Who Blogs Behind The Rows - May 25th



I know, you're surprised they talk to me too. Tits okay, I still can't believe my luck.


So now for a titty bit of news. Crushed Seraphim has a sequel and I've nabbed you an excerpt! What? That's right. My friends over at Sam, E and R Awesomeness are hosting the excerpt. 




They also had a sexy visit with Satan Jack for you to enjoy. In my rafflecopter below, you have to answer a question from the post on their blog! So make sure to pop in, slap Jack's ass and get you some!



Plus, now a big dancing explosion of win and grace:




And then let's stay fiery and watch Crushed Seraphim's trailer!!!




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Soon...