Sheila Seabrook's Blog, page 11

Duck Tales Part II

This part of my story begins a few days after my original The Ducklings Are Coming post. If you haven’t read that post yet, go do so now. I’ll wait.

♫ ♬ ♪♬ ♫

Oh, you’re back. I was just humming a tune. You probably noticed my musical talents are … shall we say … ear-numbing?

A few days after I wrote The Ducklings Are Coming post, we heard our son shout for assistance. As we raced outside, he told us that the neighborhood tomcat had disappeared under the front deck dragging Mama Duck by the neck.

For the rest of Duck Tales Part II, head on over to the Women Unplugged site.

And if you’re looking for something to read, head on over to the Summer Book Crush site where, from June 26th to June 28th, you’ll find “swoon worthy reads to take to the beach” for only $.99.

Thanks for stopping by today!

I’m at the moment when…

I’m at the moment in my latest mess-in-progress when everything sucks. The plot is filled with holes. The characters are a crazy mess. I’ve thrown everything into the story pot and it tastes like chicken soup gone bad.

Yes, the first draft of Terms of Surrender is complete. You’ll briefly meet the heroine — Harley Jane Davis — in Always Remember. She’s an emergency room nurse who recently lost her twin sister and who volunteers at the local women’s shelter. When she ends up in the middle of a domestic situation, she’s rescued by the hot-guy-who-got-away.

Enter crisis negotiator Gage Toryn.

Gage may look like he has it all together, but deep down, he’s as messed up as they come. A victim of his violent childhood, he fears the monster inside and refuses to let any woman get too close.

I’m turning their world upside down, one road block at a time.

Duck Tales

For the last few weeks, we’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of our ducklings. You see, ever since we moved onto our acreage and built a big pond at the back of the property, we’ve had a pair of mallard ducks stop to nest. We’ve even had a few broods hatch and within weeks, the mama duck is parading them through the yard or teaching them to swim. The photo to the left is of the female duck as she walked past the basement window.

To read the rest of this post, head over to the Women Unplugged site and join me there.

Authors Give Back Blog Hop

Brenda Novak’s annual online Auction for Diabetes Research is running till May 31, 2013. If you haven’t yet done so, please check out this worthy cause. There are lots of great items to bid for and lots of great prizes to win. If you’re new to the auction, all you have to do is register so you can begin to place your bids. And of course, if you’re a previous participant, you can login here.

This year, Brenda dedicated the auction to Author Lauren Hawkeye and her family. Lauren is a member of my local RWA chapter and has been a long time supporter of Brenda’s auction. Just a few month’s ago, Lauren’s young son was diagnosed with diabetes, so head on over to Brenda’s auction, start bidding, and help Brenda raise money for diabetes research.

Now for the Authors Give Back part of the post…

The WG2E Street Team authors have donated a Kindle Paperwhite (and charger) loaded with over 40 books to the auction. My upcoming book, Always Remember, is included in the package.

The Kindle Paperwhite, charger, and digital books are on the auction schedule for one day only — today, May 28th — so make sure you put in your bid right away. As well, the WG2E authors are holding a separate Rafflecopter at the RG2E site for one $50 gift card raffle and three $5 gift cards. To be eligible for the draw, just follow the instructions on the RG2E post for the raffle.

Good luck, have fun, and thank you for participating!

 

Always Remember Is Almost Here!

First off, if you haven’t had the opportunity to check out Brenda Novak’s Annual Auction for the Cure for Diabetes, please take a look at the notification on my righthand sidebar. The WG2E Street Team has put together a special basket which will be auctioned off on May 28th. Go ahead. Click on the link, check it out, then come back here for more news. I’ll wait.

Great, you’re back. Thanks for returning!

I’m taking a short break from The Marriage Pact. The characters are being stubborn, so while they sort their problems out, I’ve been hard at work on ALWAYS REMEMBER, a book near and dear to me for very personal reasons. ALWAYS was one of my RWA Golden Heart Finalist manuscripts, and I’m thrilled it’s finally ready for publication.

The fabulous Kim Killion at Hot Damn Designs is working on the cover right now. You may recall she created the fabulous cover for The Valentine Grinch and I’m very excited to see what she comes up with this time.

ALWAYS REMEMBER is a full length contemporary romance. To whet your appetite, here’s the story blurb from the back cover of the book:

Get in, get out.

A midnight summons from rancher Nate Coltrane brings singer Jessie Adams back to the heart of the Rocky Mountains — not to see him again, but to say goodbye to her dying mother. Seventeen years ago, Jessie gave up Nate’s child for adoption and she hasn’t been home since. How can she sit by her mother’s side, surrounded by constant reminders of all she loved and lost? How can she face Nate without telling him the truth about the child he never knew existed?

Nate doesn’t think Jessie has the guts to return home and face him, but when she does, he’s afraid of losing everything he loves…for the second time in his life. But he’s made a promise to her mother. Bring Jessie home. Give the dying woman one last opportunity to heal the rift with her daughter. Nate will do anything for Jessie’s mother because if not for her, he might never have known the love of his child.

But sometimes the truth turns out to be a lie…

Watch for the cover to come sometime next week. Until then … happy reading!

I am “The Worrier”

I worry about driving off a mountain cliff and crashing into the ravine below.

I worry about working in the gardens and being attacked by one of the large predators that wander through our yard.

I worry about dying slow and painful instead of dying fast and easy.

And if you’re curious, the rest of my worries are over at the Women Unplugged site today. Join me, and tell me what you worry about.

And The Winner Is …

Jeannie Platt is our website winner. Congratulations, Jeannie! You’ve won the ebooks titled SOUPS FOR ALL SEASONS and WEDDING FEVER. I’ll contact you shortly to arrange receipt of your ebooks.

The grand prize winner of the Authors In Bloom blog hop is Chris B! Chris wins the ereader and $25 gift card.

In addition to these prizes, I have a special gift for my newsletter subscribers, so be sure to watch your inbox for my newsletter.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Authors In Bloom blog hop. I hope to see you back here again next year.

 

The Return of the Authors In Bloom Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Authors in Bloom blog hop!

In my tiny section of the world, we still have snow on the ground. I’m dreaming of flowers and green grass and warm temperatures. We’re getting there slowly, but it’s going to be a little while longer before I can get outside and dig in the dirt.

In celebration of the near-arrival of spring and the Authors In Bloom blog hop, I’ve redecorated my site to give it a more spring-like feel. If you have a moment, pop on over to my home page and let me know what you think.

Before we move onto the contest, here’s a quick tip:

Last spring, I bought two dozen red and white geraniums. They looked so pretty and added so much color to the yard, I decided to take clippings and grow a few of my own. In the fall, I dug up a dozen of the plants to overwinter in the heated shop. By early March, the sun was high enough in the sky for new plants. I took 60 cuttings from the existing plants, stuck them directly into some gardening soil, watered them, and put the pots into a south facing window. Although I lost two of the cuttings, I have 58 of them flourishing and they’ll look gorgeous in the flower gardens this summer.

Now, back to the blog hop. There are multiple prizes and here are the details:

1) SUBSCRIBE TO MY NEWSLETTER (I promise not to spam you!) and you’ll be entered in a draw to win a copy of SOUPS FOR ALL SEASONS and WEDDING FEVER. Please note that these are both ebooks and will be available for download to your ereader.

2) To enter to win the Authors In Bloom prizes – a Kindle Fire or Nook (winner’s choice) along with a $25 gift card, plus there will be 2nd and 3rd place prizes drawn — LEAVE A COMMENT in the comments below. So tell me, if you’re a flower gardener, veggie gardener, both flower and veggie, or you’d never put your hands in the dirt unless someone paid you a million dollars (and maybe even not then LOL!). Then use the handy linky link below to visit the other sites taking part in the hop. The more sites you leave a comment on, the better your chance to win.

The Authors In Bloom tour ends April 19th at 11:59pm EST.  All winners will be announced at http://www.diannevenetta.com by April 22, 2013.

Thanks so much for joining us!  And have FUN!

Flip Flops & Belly Flops

This weekend, we spent Easter at my mom’s. My youngest sister came out for the weekend and brought her two girls. My sister-in-law, after a wonderful vacation in Hawaii and despite three feet of snow still on the ground, showed up in flip flops and a tan. It was warm out, so she was celebrating spring.

I was in charge of the baking. I make peanut butter-butterscotch-marshmallow squares, which happens to be a family favourite. For the first time in years, the butterscotch chips melted on the very first try. I didn’t have to boil the heck out the recipe just to get them half melted. (Thank you, Hershey, for finally improving your Chipits mix!)

After my success with the squares, I was feeling pretty confident and so I moved on to the Angel Food cake. It came out of a box, not from scratch, so it was a no-brainer. As long as nobody thumped across the floor while it was in the oven, I was guaranteed success.

I only wish I’d taken pictures to show the mess I created …

To read the rest of this post, join me over at the Women Unplugged site today!

 

Have Computer, Will Travel

Somewhere in the world, spring has arrived. It’s not here in my part of the world, even though March 20th – officially the first day of spring – has come and gone. Instead, we still have three feet of snow on the ground, with more in the forecast.

I know spring is out there, looming in the not too distant future, and when it arrives it’ll be time to move my office outdoors.

This is one of the big pleasures of working for myself. My office is wherever I happen to set up shop. Right now, it’s in the northeast wing of the house, where the morning sunshine blinds me from mid-April to mid-September. I have to wear sunglasses while I type or close the drapes to keep the sun out.

Have computer, will travel … all the way from the indoor office to the deck or the family room or the kitchen table. And if I’m feeling particularly adventuresome, I pack up my computer and my husband, and head for the mountains.

I feel a mountain adventure coming on. So while I contemplate packing my suitcase and computer, I’ll leave you with a little teaser for my upcoming novel THE MARRIAGE PACT:

A hotshot divorce lawyer encounters the wedding planner from hell – the gorgeous, sexy woman he met and bedded a month ago who is pregnant with his child.

If you want to find out more about my upcoming release, join my newsletter!