Happy Friday!

For those of you who like to plan ahead, both Moongazer and Girls that Growl are now available for pre-order on Amazon. Woot! Makes it feel all official like!

I'm trying to get my 2008 releases lined up now. Right now it looks like a Jan/Feb'ish adult release from Dorchester (a contemp chicklit/rom-com kind of thing -wow not a paranormal for once!!!) and a YA in early fall - The Camelot Code (which IS a time travel/paranormal). I'm pretty sure we'll also have Book 4 in the Boys that Bite series in the fall as well. Still working on the proposal for that. I wanted to wait until I heard back from my editor on Girls that Growl. Luckily she said this week that she loved it, so I can move forward with Book #4. We're back to Sunny's point of view in this one.

Last night I painted. I think it came out good, especially considering I'd never painted before. :) It's a very pale yellow color to accent one of the walls. Now that I've done it, I'm kinda addicted. I want to paint everything in the place! Maybe I'll do the bathroom next. I was thinking a nice dark blue color...

But first I must give top priority to my Moongazer revisions, which came today. Fun, fun!

Mar

Random Ramblings

Two more days til furniture! I'm so excited to set up my new place, it's been hard to wait.

Yesterday I had to go to Hartford for work - long commute, but it's okay. I can get some writing done on the train. I'm working on a proposal for the fourth Boys that Bite book. My editor read Girls that Growl this week and said she loved it! Yay! So now it's on to book four. We're going back to Sunny's point of view and adventures this time around. I really enjoy writing that series and hope it can continue for a long time.

One thing great about being in NYC is that I now commute on the subway and that means I get reading time again! When I was walking to work in Boston, I never really had that natural time to read. I just finished Everyone Worth Knowing by the Devil Wears Prada author and am almost through Dream Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I think I want to read Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin cause everyone goes on and on and on about how amazing it is and then I will probably check out a few YAs. It's nice to be reading again.

I think I'm going to grab some paint after work and paint an accent wall in my apartment before my furniture shows up. A light chiffony yellow, I think. Did I already write about this? I can't remember.

Oh, here's something cool. I got a MySpace email from the cover artist who did the covers from Stake That and Girls that Growl. Since those are like my favorite covers in the known universe it was great to get a chance to be all fan girl. Turns out cover artists don't usually get author feedback, so it was cool for both of us to connect. I hope he does more of my Berkley covers in the future.

Mar

Day #2 in NYC

My apartment is being painted today, but I think I'm going to paint over their paint and give it a nice color accent wall. I'm thinking a pale yellow that won't clash with my forthcoming red couch. I've never painted before, so this could be interesting...

I only brought a few outfits with me cause I had so much to take with me on the train and I'm already suffering from lack of good wardrobe syndrome. I cannot WAIT for my clothes (and furniture) to arrive on Saturday. Then my real New York life can begin. :)

I found a great pedicure place where they do the added 10 minute back massage while you wait for your toes to dry. I'm a big fan of this because 1) I love back massages and 2) I am a total ADD case who can't sit still 10 minutes, waiting for toes to dry without going crazy.

Oh and I'm reading Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisenberger - of Devil Wears Prada fame. Totally digging the local NYC scene insider stuff now that I'm a resident. All the geography she mentions and places have so much more resonance now that I'm here. I think I should go rewatch the entire Sex and the City series as well.

As soon as my TV arrives...

Marianne

PS It's release date for Alyssa Day's Atlantis Rising. (AKA Alesia Holliday's new paranormal romance.) Go buy it! You won't be sorry!

First Day in NYC

Hey all -

Well I'm here in the city. Had my work orientation today. Am sitting on the floor of my new apartment as my furniture isn't coming til Sat. Everything has been great so far. People are so nice here. I swear, NYC is soo much more friendly than Boston. Everyone in my new apartment building - door people, porter, super, etc. are sooo nice and helpful. And the people at the new job seem great too. Pretty neat to be working for a magazine company, even if I am in the tv department. I feel so Devil Wears Prada meets Sex and the City.

My apartment is great - it's right in the center of EVERYTHING. It's like, you think about a store and suddenly it's right there in front of you. Insane. Downstairs there's a delish organic bakery that makes dreamy hot chocolate. And there are about 5 nail salon places within a block. I haven't figured out where the nearest Starbucks is yet, but there's one downstairs from my work, so that's good. Oh and when you get takeout, the delivery people actually come up the elevator and deliver the food to your door. (Er, yes, it is the little things in life!)

Okay, I'll stop gushing. Don't want to sound too country mouse. But just wanted to report in and let you know how it was all going so far!!

:)
Marianne

Off to NYC...

Today is my last morning as a New England girl. I'm off to NYC this afternoon, heading down on the train for my first week in the Big Apple. I am traveling light - air mattress, sleeping bag, laptop, clothes -- and then my dad's bringing the rest of my stuff down on Saturday. (Long complicated story why.)

Sooo exciting!!!

Marianne

Snowy Friday

The countdown is on: two days til I move to NYC! Woot. Can't wait to get there. Especially since at the moment I'm in New Hampshire, stuck inside due to a snowstorm. Argh. I'm just trying to remind myself that shoveling = good workout.

So have any of you used those Coinstar machines in grocery stores to count your change recently? I used to use them, but found losing 9 cents per dollar was a bit of a rip-off. But since I had a lot of change, I brought it down yesterday to have it counted. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Coinstar now a fee-free way to get your money - through gift cards! So instead of paying a fee and getting cash, which I would have blown on like random stuff, I got a $30 Amazon gift card! So cool! They offer other gift cards as well. Check it out! I am definitely more inclined to save my pennies now.

I saw a really weird, but cool movie last night. Number 23 with Jim Carrey. It was spooky and very intriguing. Highly recommend it - especially if you like noir. Check out the trailer:

That's about all I have to report right now. Hope you are all well and staying warm!!

:)
Marianne

The terror!

This is the terror--aka puppy--I am dogsitting this week. His name is Brady (as in Tom Brady) and he is 5 months old, I believe. He belongs to my Dad's family. As you can see, my dog Molly--the black one who is 11 years old--is not impressed by his antics...

:)
Marianne

Now Touring: My Favorite Earthling

I have always been a Susan Grant fan girl ever since I first read her RITA award winning book CONTACT. And I devoured her innovative 2176 series a few years back. Now she's back again with a sexy out of this world romp, "My Favorite Earthling" -- given 4 1/2 stars by Romantic Times Magazine. LOVE the cover and I can't wait to read what's inside the book!

MY FAVORITE EARTHLING by Susan Grant
HQN; March 1, 2007

Even a Goddess can have a bad day...Keira, warrior-queen of the galaxy, is as famous for her beauty as she is for avoiding marriage. But when an upstart little planet called Earth threatens her world with its fleet of spaceships, the fate of her people lies in her hands. She must bind herself to a barbarian from the rogue world...or face the destruction of her own!

She's what he never knew he always wanted...Confirmed bachelor Jared Jasper knew the trick Earth pulled on the alien invaders wasn't a permanent solution. What they needed was a peace treaty. It just never occurred to him that he would wind up on the bargaining table. Playing the pushover groom to a mouthy alien babe who knows how to use a plasma sword is not exactly his idea of fun. But with six-billion people depending on him, he doesn't have much choice--sleep with the enemy...or bring on interstellar war.

Strange bedmates? You bet. But this alliance may turn into a romance the likes of which this galaxy's never seen!

Sounds great, huh? You can check out an excerpt or go buy the book!

Marianne

"Adventures" in NH

I don't subscribe to cable, but as I'm dogsitting at my dad's this week, I've been keeping the TV on to see what I've been missing. I've watched THE HILLS (is that a reality show or a drama--I can't tell...) MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN (o.m.g. this IS a reality show. Which means these girls really exist!!!), 90210 (yay repeats on the Soap channel!), and other junk. Let's just say I probably won't be hooking up cable in NYC anytime soon. Oh, and I watched Before Sunrise, which I hadn't seen in years, as my stepsister had it on DVD. I think I understand that movie a lot more than I did when I originally watched it in like high school. It's pretty beautiful and sad and the characters are really realistic--flawed, yet honestly portrayed and not romanticized too much. Now I want to check out the sequel, which I heard was good.

NH is pretty quiet, which means I'm able to get a lot of writing done. I've finished my middle-grade proposal - 50 pages and a synopsis - and will probably be passing it into my agent tomorrow. Then I guess I'll write my 4th vampire book proposal. You see, I don't want to start my new book "The Camelot Code" until I do the revisions for the two books I passed in because I hate to keep switching projects. But at the same time I want to take advantage of my time off. So we'll see...

Argh the puppy is whining again. Did I mention he needed to be taken out like EVERY HOUR?!?
Sigh.

Marianne

A scary moment...

So a lot of you probably remember right before I moved out of my Concord home, lightning struck my house and burned it to the ground. Well, on Thursday night I had a scary deja vu all over again moment when I was returning from a going away party down the street only to find my neighborhood blocked off by firetrucks, the smell of smoke, news vans everywhere. I ran the rest of the way home, my heart thudding in my chest as I had to take detours to get around all the blocked streets and gathered crowd. All I could think of was what if my building was on fire just before I moved out AGAIN!?!? And this time my dog was inside!!!

Anyway, it turned out, the building DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME was on fire - a six alarm blaze that ended up costing $1.5 million in damage and displaced a bunch of poor people. (Luckily, no one was hurt, though they said if it were later at night, it would have been a different story.)

Argh.

Anyway, I did move all my stuff out the next morning and I'm safe and sound at my dad's for the week before heading off to NYC. But I feel so sad for all the displaced people on Endicott Street in the North End. I know that horrible, sick feeling to realize you've just lost everything you own in one night. Bleh.

Mar

Now Touring: Blood Secrets

Today as part of the Out of the Blogosphere blog tour (and because I'm too tired from moving my stuff out of my apartment to type something original!) I give you Vivi Anna's Blood Secrets - one of the new Silhouette Nocture books. I think you'll agree, it sounds really cool -think CSI with vamps....And what a hot cover!

A young human woman is found ritualistically murdered in a downtown Necropolis hotel. It is up to Caine Valorian, a 200-year-old vampire, and his Otherworld Crime Unit to solve the unusual crime, and quickly before the human press can jump onto the story and cause a panic. To add to their already tough case, a new member, Eve Grant, transfers to their lab at the request of the mayor. Not only is she green and eager to impress the boss, but she's human. The first human ever to work in an Otherworld unit. The mayor thought it would be great press especially now with the strange human murder.

Caine has his work cut out for him, especially with his unruly team who don't appreciate any help from a human. Not only is this the toughest case of his career, but he's unusually attracted to the new girl, which can only cause trouble for them all. However, as they sink deeper and deeper into the workings of the case, Caine and Eve become closer and closer. So close that neither of them can see past each other and at the real happenings behind the scenes. The more they poke and prod at the case, the more they realize that something is going on, that this murder is only one step toward a greater purpose. Someone in the Otherworld community is calling on dark forces, in a plot to wipe out the entire human population.

Ready to read more? Here's a link to the excerpt.

And now, I need a nap!
MaR

Done Packing!

Well, I'm about done packing. Tomorrow AM my dad will be showing up bright and early to lug my stuff to New Hampshire where I will hang out for a week, waiting for my NYC apartment to be ready to move into. Phew.

I'm also now 35 pages into my new YA proposal. **happy dance!** I gotta say, though I enjoyed writing my kick-butt action adventure Moongazer, it's also fun to go back to being a teen again. :) For some reason YA writing just comes so naturally to me. It's like breathing and I sometimes can't even type fast enough to keep up with my ideas. And no, please don't remind me it's likely cause I never grew up!! But hey, whatever works, right?

Tonight, some work colleagues are having a going away thing for me at Anthem. Should be fun!! I need to shower first, though! I'm all grubby from packing!!

When stalling with packing I've been searching online for space saving storage type furniture, as my new apartment is a studio and thus small. I came across this from Pottery Barn:

Isn't that great? Atractive and so practical! I could fit so much in those drawers.

Of course, since it's from Pottery Barn, it's kind of pricey. If any of you have seen something similar at a cheaper furniture type place, let me know. If I can't find anything cheaper, I might splurge. It would be soo nice to have the storage space!

Mar

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog to bring you this complaint...

I hate packing.

I HATE PACKING.

I HATE PACKING!!!!!!

HATE IT, I TELL YOU!!!!!

How do you people will full houses and kids manage to move? I have a tiny freaking one bedroom apartment and a year and a half ago all my stuff went up in flames so it's not even filled with priceless timeless relics. And yet it feels like a neverending pit of stuff!!!! I can't take it. I am going insane. I've thrown half of it out. How did I amass such clutter in such a short time?

I even wrote 12 PAGES of my new YA proposal today simply because I wanted to avoid packing. Hm, maybe a new strategy. Have a deadline? MOVE HOUSES! Nothing has ever motivated me more to write!!

The good news: the proposal rocks. And at this pace I should be done with it by the end of the week. Woot! Agent will be very pleased.

The bad news: packing is not. And dad is coming at 9am Friday morning to cart it all to his house to store before my move. Sigh. Dad will NOT be very pleased.

Seriously, I'm glad I like my new apartment cause I am NEVER EVER LEAVING IT!!!! I will die in that place and people can drag my stuff out along with my corpse.

Just sayin'

Mar

Four quick midnight type things...

Four quick things:

1) I found out I double finaled in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence RWA writing contest for BOYS THAT BITE and STAKE THAT! Woot!! My dear friends Barb Ferrer and Simone Elkeles also finaled!! So I'm in very good company!!

2) I did a bit of a website re-design to focus more on the upcoming SHOMI books. Check it out if you have a sec.

3) I just returned from watching FACTORY GIRL. It was really good. Sad, tragic, but beautiful.

4) I just dragged half of the contents of my apartment down to the trash. But considering my NYC apartment is about half the size, I think I'm justified. My new New Year's resolution? Less clutter!!!

:)
MAR

Day #2 Home Alone

So today is my 2nd day home between jobs -- though day #1 doesn't really count cause it was a holiday and lots of friends were home too so I was able to socialize and see people just like it was another weekend day. But now everyone's back to work and I'm officially going crazy sitting home. I don't know how you full time writers do it. :) I thought it'd be great to take two weeks off - now I have no idea how I'll ever survive.

Perhaps my anxiety is not stemmed from being home, but from guilt that I am not packed yet. My house is torn apart, suffering from half-packed syndrome and because I can't put trash out til 6pm tonight half the apartment has been designated a "stuff I need to throw away" dump. Not exactly a feng shui enviornment to relax in.

I did, however, finally turn in MOONGAZER to my editor!! Woot!! Book #8 down!! I'm really happy with how it turned out, too. Cheer! And this morning I wrote the synopsis for a new proposal I'm working on. Would love to have that done by the end of the week. Though I gotta say, it's more than a bit weird to switch gears from adult kick-butt post apocalyptic romance to a young contemp YA style. That's why I decided to tackle the synopsis first. I'll work on the actual chapters a little later today--maybe after a little YA reading to get back into the groove.

And by the way - if anyone's curious of the key to solving writing procrastination? It's moving. Writing > packing everytime!

:)
Mar

almost done....with everything!

Today's my second to last day at work at my old job. Crazy. It's going to seem strange to leave here - after having been here five days a week for the last five years. But I am excited to be moving on to bigger and better things in the Big Apple!

I am ALMOST done writing Moongazer. Sooo soo close. Okay, technically I am done, but I can't help revising and revising. I want it to be perfect when I pass it in. At some point I realize I have to let go. Otherwise it'll never get on store shelves. But it's my baby, so I want to make it as perfect as possible before I sent it out into the world.

I'm going to be pretty busy this weekend - going out dancing at"90s night" (yes, 90s music is now considered retro!) with some old high school friends. Saturday I'm having lunch with my aunt. Sunday I have my last New England RWA meeting **sniff**. Monday my dad's coming down to help me start packing up. Then I have a week in Boston with nothing to do but pack and write. That should be nice. :)

Then it's off to NYC to begin a new chapter of my life!! It'll be a little strange, of course, this is the first time I've ever moved someplace without dragging a bf type along with me, but I have lots of dear friends in the city and so it's not like I'll be alone. And I'm sure I'll meet people, too. Yup, from now on life's going to be one big Sex and the City episode for me. haha. Can't wait! :)

Mar

Now Touring: Moon Awakening

Today we've got a werewolf/Scottish highlander tale on the Out of the Blogosphere tour...

An enthralling new romantic tale that pushes the boundaries between love and hate, passion and pain-and man and beast...

When Emily Hamilton's family is ordered to send a woman to the Scottish highlands for marriage to the laird of the Sinclair, Emily volunteers in order to save her younger sister from such a fate. But at her new home, the only friend she finds is the laird's sister-especially after Emily's stubborn streak causes the laird to cancel the marriage. And though her plans have gone awry, she refuses to return home...

Lachlan Balmoral is laird of his clan-and leader of his pack. One of the most feared werewolves prowling the Highlands, he is on the march against the hated Sinclair, who have abducted a Balmoral woman. He kidnaps the sister of the Sinclair laird, planning to marry her off in revenge-but the woman he takes along with her proves to be the greater prize...

For Emily feeds a desire he has never known existed. And though Lachlan would not think of touching his enemy's betrothed, he must know how a mere woman could tame his heart so easily...

Check out an excerpt here!

Guest Blogging...

I'll be guest blogging today over at Romance B(u)y The Book. Pop on by if you get a chance and leave a comment so I look popular! Hm...not enough enticement? Well, I'm also giving away free books and my publisher Dorchester is doing a giveaway as well!

Mar

Adventures in Apartment Hunting (NYC Style)

So I survived my weekend in NYC apartment hunting. I even managed to have a little fun while I was there!!

On Friday, I looked at two apartments on the Upper West Side - one on 81st and Columbus and one on 106/West End Drive. The first apartment was cute and in a good area- but a bit run down and also wasn't available until April. Not good since my job starts March 5th! The second was a very well maintained beautiful studio in a nice building, but it was a bit above my price range and no laundry in the building. Seems like if I'm going to spend extra each month I deserve laundry!

But I wasn't too worried. I had more appointments the next day. So on Friday night I crashed the SCBWI VIP cocktail event with my writer friend Charlene. (She was attending the conference, but I was not.) I got to meet my new editor at Dutton, Sara Shumway, who seems really nice. Can't wait to start working with her.

Saturday I met up with another agent, Caroline Bass from Citi-Habitats. GREAT realtor. She totally rocks and made the whole process a ton of fun. We looked at a lot of places. None of them were dumpy, but some were TINY! I mean, you could barely fit a bed for $1,900 a month! I was starting to get worried, as you can imagine. But she assured me she had one "special" apartment that she was saving til last. It was a rare vacancy in this dog-friendly high-rise and she had an exclusive on it. The girl who was supposed to rent it had gotten sick and couldn't take it after all. Since I had gotten Caroline's name through a special referral by someone who was close to the owner, she was going to show it to me.

Well, let me tell you I was not disappointed! The apartment is adorable. A large ninth floor studio facing the street, very well maintained with crown moldings, high beamed ceilings, and beautiful hardwood floors. It's in a fancy doorman/elevator pre-war building with laundry and accepts all dogs. And the best part - it's on 72nd and Central Park West - an awesome neighborhood half a block from the park and the express train. It couldn't be a more perfect spot for me.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. So I filled out the application, put down the deposit and crossed my fingers. I didn't even go to my 2nd realtor appointment. I had my mind made up. This apartment was MINE. That night I went out to dinner - a delish Italian place 80s/Columbus - and drank at this amazing little basement Moroccan bar with some friends. My friends kept saying "Oh, you'll have this in your neighborhood, etc." which started freaking me out - like, what if I don't get it?!!?

But like romance novels, this story has a happy ending. The next morning the realtor called and said the apartment was all mine - just come down and sign the lease and produce exorbitant amounts of money. I did and then headed back to Boston on the train, happy and excited.

Success! And beyond my wildest expectations. I never thought I'd find such a perfect place in such a great neighborhood. Moving to NYC is going to be sooo much fun!

:)
Marianne

Preparing to Move

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately with my impending move.

STUFF DONE:
* Accepted new job
* Gave notice at old job
* Found someone to rent my Boston apartment
* Finished 2nd draft of Moongazer

STUFF TO BE DONE BY MARCH 5th
* Find new apartment (attempting to do that this weekend!)
* Pack things (this is one time I am glad for the fire last year because I don't have a ton of junk to pack anymore!)
* Move (either by self/friends or with movers depending on affordibility and timing)
* Polish Moongazer to perfection and send in to editor
* Do revisions on Moongazer after editor reads it
* Do revisions on Girls that Growl, which should come in soon
* Write proposal for next YA vampire book

Hm...my TBD list is a lot longer than my "done" list. Of course. Oh well, one thing at a time. Most important will be finding that little closet in Manhattan to call my own. The realtors have been a bit discouraging about me finding dog friendly places. But I'm trying to stay optimistic. In any case, I just keep reminding myself that I'm going to be living my dream and a little stress now will lead to a big pay-off later. :) And that moving to NYC isn't that much different than moving elsewhere-which I've done many times before. It just SEEMS daunting cause it's NYC. But it'll all be fine in the end. In fact, it'll likely be great!

Marianne

Start Spreading the News...

I'm leaving today (well, not today...but soon! very soon!)
I want to be a part of it, NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

Yup, yup. You read that right. Remember the life-changing news I couldn't share? Well, I officially gave my notice at work today so now I can sing it from the rooftops. :) I'm moving to New York City at the end of the month! Woot woot! I am sooo excited! I have ALWAYS wanted to live in "The City" as they call it and now I'm finally going to get my chance. SQUEE!!!

I'll be taking on a new TV producing related job that I can't really talk about yet, but it's a great opportunity and should prove very rewarding careerwise.

I'm heading in this weekend to start the terrifying apartment search. Wish me luck in finding a tiny closet on the Upper West Side that will take me and my doggie. I want to live near Central Park so Molly will have some green grass nearby. Or Riverside Park would be nice too-they have a good dog park. We'll see what I can find and afford. :)

Anyway, just had to share. Will continue to update you on my move as it happens.

Marianne

Now Touring: Night Rising

Today on Out of the Blogosphere we have a kick ass urban fantasy by Chris Marie Green. It's called Night Rising and is publsihed by ACE.

Check out the trailer!

Night Rising, Vampire Babylon, Book One

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Stuntwoman Dawn Madison is a girl with attitude—and a lot of issues, mostly about living up to the legacy of her mother, a world famous movie star whose untimely death left Dawn to be raised by her dad Frank, nobody’s notion of single-father-of-the-year. Now that she’s grown up, she and Frank aren’t on the best of terms, to say the least.

Still, he is her dad, and when he vanishes while investigating the bizarre sighting—caught on film—of a supposedly long-dead child star, she comes home to Tinseltown to join the search for him. Working with his colleagues—a psychic short in stature but big in dreams, a beautiful Latina techno-geek, and the P. I. firm’s never-seen boss—she discovers an erotic and bloody underground society made up of creatures she thought existed only on screen.

They are devious. They are deadly. And some of them are dangerously attractive…

ABOUT CHRIS MARIE GREEN:
Chris Marie Green also writes as Crystal Green for Silhouette Bombshell and Special Edition, plus Harlequin Blaze. Her first vampire book, THE HUNTRESS, allowed her to indulge in her love of horror movies and novels. NIGHT RISING is book one of the Vampire Babylon trilogy.

Find out more about this book on her website.

I'm Guest Blogging...

...at Author MBA. It's on making a MySpace page work for you. If you've been interested in setting up an author MySpace page but weren't sure how to begin, this will walk you through it. Check it out if you get a chance!

Also, if you're a WoW player (or know someone who is) I suggest you check out Diana Peterfreund's excellent blog explaining Goal/Motivation/Conflict by using the World of Warcraft PvP system. Most excellent. :)

I'm pleased to announce that yes, A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest - the fab sequel to A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court - is indeed still for sale!! haha. If you haven't bought your copy, what are you waiting for? (I'll lay off soon, I promise, but remember, for authors that first week of "on sale" is the most important!!)

I'm not the only one in new cover land. Gena Showalter posts two HOT ones on her blog for her books Red Handed and Black Listed. Love 'em. And on the YA end of things, Ally Carter posts the cover for her upcoming book "Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy." It's very similar to the first book in the series, but I think this one is a bit more striking cause of the black. And lastly, I can't remember if I pimped out Liz Maverick's Shomi cover for WIRED. Even if I did, it's worth a second look cause it's so kick ass.

That's all for now. Will be back later to plug a book for the Out of the Blogosphere book tour! :) And it's a good one!

:)
MARIANNE

Girls that Growl - The Cover!!

I'm a vampire. I'm also a vampire slayer. (It's a long story-don't ask.) And now I, Rayne MacDonald, Goth Girl, have to try out for THE CHEERLEADING SQUAD?

You'd think after I saved my coven last semester, I'd get a break or something. I've got enough on my plate: my twin keeps whining about whether or not to go all the way; Mom's boyfriend is moving in; and my man, Jareth, who's now allowed out in the sun, has turned from a dark, brooding hottie into a surfer dude...

But I'm still on the clock and have a new assignment. A member of the football team has disappeared-and Slayer, Inc. thinks the cheerleaders had something to do with it-and that they're werewolves. I always knew they were a pack of bitches...Now they want me to infiltrate the squad and get the dirt. But first, I'll need an extreme prep makeover. If only they'd let me wear fishnets under this revolting uniform...

If I had $250 Million Dollars...

A friend and I were playing an IM game today about what we'd do right now -- as in tonight -- if suddenly $250 million dollars were deposited into our bank accounts.

Many ideas were tossed back and forth but I believe the consensus is that we'd leave work, grab a limo to hit Newbury Street for new designer clothes and accessories (drinking champagne while trying stuff on, of course!) Then, once we were properly outfitted we'd charter a plane to Paris and go sit on the banks of the Sienne with really expensive wine, cheese and a loaf of yummy French bread. Then head over to the Latin quarter for a night of jazz and drinks. Of course we'd give a couple mil to friends so they could quit and join us there as well. Make it a party.

Obviously we'd invest, give to charity, all that jazz later on. But I'm talking about one night with basically unlimited funds. How would you spend it?

Marianne

Hoboken Hipster Week!

A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest is out this week! Run, don't walk to your local bookstore and get your copy while they last!! Or better yet - go hit Amazon. It's quicker and doesn't require bundling up with hat and gloves!!

Um yea. I'm so not a good saleswoman. But I do hope some of you will check it out. 'Nuff said. And I promise not to start every blog post this week with a similar advertisement. hehe.

My Snakes on a Plane party went well, I thought. The movie was a lot of fun. Cheesy, but good. I definitely suggest watching in a group - makes it a lot more entertaining.

Other than that my weekend was somewhat uneventful. I did a big housecleaning on Sat (to prepare for party) and did some book writing on Sunday. I swear the weekends just go by way too fast. Ah well, what can you do?

I did NOT sleep well at ALL last night so I'm feeling a bit brain dead. So I'll sign off as to not bore you any longer. Besides, you should be running out to buy Hoboken Hipster, right? ;-)

MAR

TGIF

It's Friday! Yay! But it's sooo cold out! A total deep freeze!

I'm happy cause next week is book week for me! My sixth book (third adult), "A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest" is being released as part of Dorchester's Love Spell line. I hope you all will get a chance to check it out! Though it is a sequel of sorts to "A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court" it also reads as a standalone story.

As always, you can order off Amazon. Or head to your local bookstore.

Okay, commercial ends. I'm just feeling guilty cause I didn't do much promotion on this book, so I hope there are at least a few people who've heard it's coming out and plan to purchase it. :)

In other news, I'm hosting a little SNAKES ON A PLANE party at my apartment on Saturday. The movie is finally on DVD. Haha, should be very fun to watch. Silly, but fun! I think someone's bringing over their Nintendo Wii too - so there may be some videogame competition going on as well. Woot! Since I never host stuff at my house, I'm pretty psyched.

I've been really antsy lately cause I've been waiting for some major news (not book related) and it's been sooo slow in coming together, but should very, very soon now. We're talking major life changing stuff and I'm terrible at being patient. I'm trying to distract myself with book writing and socializing, but I'd be much happier once everything's finalized.

And finally, because PBW is much more interesting a blogger than I could ever hope to be, I point you to her blog and...the tale of the samuari agent. Sadly, it doesn't give any info on how to query him. :P

MARIANNE

Reluctant Reader Pick!

My editor just emailed me with some good news! My book "Boys that Bite" was selected by the Young Adult Library Services Association (Part of the American Library Association) as a 2007 Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers!!

Here's how they choose the books, according to their website:

The Quick Picks committee seeks books that teens, ages 12-18, will pick up on their own and read for pleasure. The list is geared to the teenager who, for whatever reason, does not like to read. The list is not intended for teenagers with reading disabilities, though some of the selected titles may be appropriate for those teens. Teen input is a vital aspect in the final decision of the committee.Committee members spend countless hours reading, selecting books to nominate, and working one-on-one with reluctant readers to gauge their interest in the books.

I'm thrilled, to say the least! I love the idea that kids who would normally shy away from reading find my book entertaining and approachable. Perhaps planting a seed for a lifelong habit of reading. It makes me feel like I'm doing some good in the world! :)

If you'd like to see the entire list, you can find it here.

:)
Marianne

Shomi Publisher's Weekly!

So I was flipping through the new (Jan 22nd) issue of Publisher's Weekly and what do I come across? An article about my publisher Dorchester! Better yet, an article mentioning the new Shomi line and actually picturing my Moongazer book cover! My book cover and name in PW! I'm officially in author heaven.

Mar

Now Touring: Protector of the Flight

I don't know about you, but I'm a huge fan of fantasy. And I love Harlequin's LUNA line--so many great, diverse fantasy stories! Today, as part of the Out of the Blogosphere author tours, I give you Robin Owen's Protector of the Flight. Awesome cover, huh? I remember as a child I used to LOVE pegasus and most of my stories had to do with them or unicorns. Or a hybrid I used to call a Pegacorn! :) Um, anyway, back to the book!

The Story:

If horses could fly...

Then Calli Torcher might ride again. But a devastating accident left her in such pain, she thought the chimes and chanting in her ears were a hallucination...until she found herself transported to another world, and met the Lladranans who had Summoned her.

Lladrana was a parallel, magical earth filled with exotic creatures, noble humans and magic– all threatened by an encroaching evil.

And when the might volarans stopped obeying the Chevaliers, the flying horses' unexpected rebellion had thrown Lladrana into an uproar. In desperation, the sorcerers had sought help from afar - and gotten Calli. If she could fulfill this mission perhaps she would also finally find all she had longed for – a mate, a home, a family. But against this great darkness she had no battle experience, no strategy plans. She had only a bond with horses...

--

Sounds cool, huh? Well you can check out Robin's website for more info or read an

Fun with Blogger!!

As you can see, I finally upgraded to the new blogger and played with some page design. It's definitely still a work in progress, but it's a lot better than what I had before! :)

:)
Marianne

Weekend Wrap-up and WoW fun

Wow. The weekend went by WAY too fast for me. I can't believe it's Monday already.

On Saturday I got my hair done. I went darker this time. I think it looks good. Since I have dark eyes it sort of matches my face better. It's different anyway and I think I needed a change. I'll take a pic when I get a chance so you can see.

On Sunday I went to my RWA meeting. Jennifer O'Connell talked about women's fiction. She did great! Afterwards we all went out to Friday's. Mmmm. Fun afternoon overall.

I also, of course, played lots of World of Warcraft. And now I'm going to talk about it. So skip the next paragraph (in red) if videogame geek talk doesn't interest you!

I have to say, I'm enjoying the expansion and Blizzard has made it pretty seemless. I mean, the beginning new areas are completely overcamped, but the spawn rate for mobs has evidently been adjusted to compensate for this so even though it's crowded, you can still get quests done in a reasonable amount of time. My partner and I are kitted out enough that nothing's been too difficult either. AND it's cool cause we're getting some new armor that's actually better than the stuff we slaved in instances for months to acquire. Which is sad, in a way, but exciting in another. We've just been doing quests so we haven't gotten to check out the new instances yet - hopefully this week! We're almost 61, but a lot of our guild has already gotten to 65! Can you say, "No life?" Oh well, to each his own. I'm not dying to rush to 70. I mean, once you get there - that's it! So why not enjoy the leveling? I also started a blood elf on another server. (Blood elves are horde so I can't be on my same server.) She's only level 4 right now, but eventually I'd like to bring her up. She's soo pretty! It's about time the horde have a pretty race. I started my character on the same server as Serena Robar started hers so I hope we can play together soon! It's on the Vashj server and my character is Skyie if anyone wants to join us!

Okay WoW talk done! Thanks for bearing with me!! :)

Tonight authors Hank Phillippi Ryan and Jennifer O'Connell and I are going to get drinks at Anthem, which is this really cool bar/restaurant down by the Boston Garden/North Station. Should be fun!

That's about all there is to report! Hope everyone has a great week!

Marianne

Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award Nominee - Yay!

Whoo hoo! I just found out "WHAT, NO ROSES?" was nomainted for a Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for "Most Innovative Historical Romance." That makes me soo happy! And I **LOVE** the category it finaled in!! Often I don't enter contests because I can never find a category to fit my books - which are always hybrids. So this is perfect. And I didn't even have to enter because RT reivewers just pick them from what the pile they reviewed the past year.

Last year I was nominated for my Young Adult book Sk8er Boy. So I'm psyched this time to be nominated for one of my adult books.

I can't WAIT to go to RT this year!!!

Marianne

On the mend

I'm getting better, slowly but surely. I was able to work on my book this morning and made it through a full day of work. And now it's Friday, so I can take the whole weekend to rest up. Though I do have a hair appointment tomorrow afternoon and I might try to make my RWA meeting on Sunday. (My friend Jennifer O'Connell is speaking so I'd really like to try to make it!)

I was also able to wear my new Uggs out of the house finally! (To the person who said I should just wear them around the house, I did, I did!) Yes, it's the little things in life that make me happy.

Oh and speaking of happy making - I also got my author copies of "A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest." I can't believe the book's out in a couple weeks!!

Has anyone seen the HBO series ROME? Out of extreme sick boredom I hit the videostore and rented the first two discs of the first season. Totally digging it so far.

Tonight I'm plopping down in front of my computer and playing the FINALLY released Burning Crusade expansion pack for World of Warcraft. I actually got it yesterday, but I had promised my "I don't want to pay for overnight shipping" friend I'd wait for him to get it, too. So I'm a couple days behind everyone else.

I know I'm speaking another language (geek speak!) to some of you, but others I'm sure have friends/boyfriends/husbands/children who have this week disapeared into the depths of the computer room asking that dinner be delivered and engagements to be cancelled so they can level up to 70 and collect the new epic loot. :) It's an addiction more than 5 million strong so I know at least I am not alone.

In any case, my Moongazer heroine is a videogame designer so actually I consider it research. I need to do LOTS of research.

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Marianne

TRYING to get better...

I'm TRYING to rejoin the living today. I'm not 100 percent better for sure, but I'm sick of being sick. So we'll see how it goes. Thank goodness for DayQuil.

In better news, I found out Boys that Bite is being translated into German! How cool is that?! I wonder what they'll do with the cover. The poor translator is going to have a heck of a time translating all that slang!

I also found out that Dorchester put an excerpt of MOONGAZER on their website. So if you want to check it out, you can do so here. And definitely let me know what you think! For more on ALL the Shomi books, they also have a website: www.shomifiction.com that showcases the new line. Pretty cool.

That's about all that's going on in Marianne land. Yesterday I spent nearly the entire day asleep so I don't have a ton to report. Hopefully I'll be all better by this weekend. I've got a lot going on and I can't afford to be sick for it all.

Mar

Sickee

Today I woke up really sick. At the worst point my fever was 102.2. Not fun. I couldn't even get off the couch for much of the day. I watched about 10 episodes of the first season of 90210 on DVD. I don't know what I would have done without that brainless entertainment. I wish they'd put the later seasons on DVD. The show really didn't find itself until at least the 2nd season. But it was definitely a worthwhile diversion all the same.

I am feeling somewhat better now and I even did some work on the book. I've GOT to get finished by the end of the month and really can't afford being sick. So I hope tomorrow I'm back to normal. Bleh. Gotta hate winter sickness!

In better news, one of my best friends, Ali, from Orlando, had her baby over the weekend. Her name is Lilian Skye Jordan and she's soo cute. I can't wait to get down to see her. I think I'll be going down in the beginning of March. I love that they gave her the middle name of Skye, as that is my Moongazer character's name. I told Ali she needed to stop having kids cause she's been taking too many of my favorite names. (Her son's named is Ian.) Let it hereby be proclaimed that I reserve Collin and Rayne for myself. :)

That's one nice thing about being an author is you get to name tons of characters! Like having lots of children.

My other exciting thing is I finally got my Christmas UGGs. As I mentioned before they were sold out EVERYWHERE so my stepmom had to order them from the UGGs headquarters in Austrailia. Anyway, they arrived today and are soo great--so cozy and warm. I can't wait to be better so I can go out and wear them.

Okay, that's about all for now. I think I'll order pizza. Isn't it feed a fever, starve a cold? Well, I'm going to go with that, anyhow!

:)
Marianne

Luv Mutt

Ooh, ooh! My dog Molly is a web star! Today she's the featured "mutt" on LuvMutt.com. Yes, I am a proud doggie mommy! Go take a look!! :)



Marianne

Sat Stuff

Happy Saturday!!

I just got back from having a facial at a spa on Newbury Street. My skin really, really needed it. Gotta hate winter!! At least the facialist was nice and didn't yell at me too much about my dry nasty skin. Now I feel dewey as a summer's morn! Cheer!

I also hit H&M. They are having the BEST sale. Tons of clearance and on top of that it's buy one get one free. Life is good.

Tonight I'm going out for my friend Mary's birthday. My friend Jamie is in town from NYC and will be joining us as well! Woot. Gotta love when friends come to town. :) So it should be a good night. Now...just need to decide what to wear.

BTW I showed you my Shomi cover, but my friend Liz Maverick, who's doing the launch book in the line (WIRED, JULY) has finally gotten her butt in gear and posted her own. Go check it out on her website. The two of us are like kids in the publishing candy house over these covers and the new line in general.

That's all for now! Must go jogging (ugh) and get ready for party (yay)!!

Mar

Happy Making Stuff

I'm going to steal a page from Diana Peterfreund's blog today and list the things that are making me happy.

* My editor sent me a finished copy of "A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest" yesterday! It's always a treat to hold a new book in your hands, even though I've gotten over the whole "sleeping with it the first night thing."

* He also sent me a copy of the excerpt booklets Dorchester made for the Shomi line. Liz Maverick, me, and Eve Kenin have chapters in them. We'll be giving them out to booksellers and also at conferences, so be sure to snag one. I'm so pscyhed to have such great publisher backing on this project!!

* Dona Sarkar-Mishra got "the call" for her YA book "How to Salsa in a Sari" by Harlequin's Kimani-Tru line. I read Dona's stuff in a contest a few years back and guys - you're all in for a treat! Too bad we have to wait til 2008 for its release!

* I learned that one of my favorite authors, William Gibson (Neuromancer) has a blog! And forums where geeks like me can debate his works! Oh and that he's working on a new book. So very exciting!

* It's Friday! And we're going out to celebrate my friend Mary's (aka the Activity Director) birthday tomorrow night! Dinner at The Eastern Standard in Kenmore Square's new Hotel Commonwealth.

* The World of Warcraft Burning Crusade expansion pack comes out next week! (Again, much rejoicing amongst the geeks!)

* Gena Showalter and Diana Peterfreund both pimped out Moongazer on their blogs yesterday. They are so sweet!

* My friend Alesia Holliday's upcoming Atlantis book - her first paranormal, written as Alyssa Day - is already garnering rave reviews! She has a cool new website too. Check it out!

* Today is not as cold as yesterday! And the weekend's supposed to be nice, too. :)

That's all for now!

:)
Marianne

Moongazer - The Cover, The Blurb

Here it is! The cover of my August book - Moongazer. I love it sooo much. I think it might be my favorite cover yet. As you can see, they used a Manga/Japanese animation style. But it doesn't look kid-like at all. More like a dark comic book or something.

Back Cover Blurb:
Imagine every night entering a nightmare world you can't escape and being told your life is a dream. Skye Brown has it all: the cool job, the hot boyfriend, the apartment on New York's Upper West Side. But lately she can't enjoy any of it. She's having dreams of a post-apocalyptic world. Of a bleak futuristic wasteland. Of a struggle against oppression. And she's been told she's a...
MOONGAZER
But what is that? And what is reality? In her dreams, she's not Skye Brown at all, but Mariah Quinn. In her dreams there's Dawn, the beautiful yet haunted soldier, and Skye is but the empty shell of a girl he once loved. And there was a betrayal, a great betrayal. Ripped between Dark Siders and club kids, the mundane and the mystic, Skye must discover who she is, what she wants and who wants her. And why. But in the glow of the moon, it's not always easy to recognize the face in the mirror.

Now Touring: Surviving Demon Island

Here's the latest book we're showcasing as part of the Out of the Blogosphere's blog tour. And it's a scorcher!! Great to heat you up on those cold winter nights!

SURVIVING DEMON ISLAND

by Jaci Burton
Bantam/Dell

She's all curves and combat boots. He's six feet of lean, dangerous male.
Join them in a game of survival. That's as real - and hot - as it gets.

What's America's top female action star doing on a tropical island shrouded in secrecy? To Gina Bliss, competing in a survival-type reality show is a nice change from fending off on-screen villains. Until she meets real-life action hero Derek Marks. A survival specialist in a tight black T and sexy stubble, he's arousing every bad-boy fantasy she's ever had...and testing her survival skills to the max.

Martial arts, jungle warfare - Derek's done it all. But his latest mission is more dangerous than a stick of dynamite. Try telling that to the sexy, adrenaline-pumped actress who's got his libido racing off the charts. As the heat rises between them and real-life violence erupts, suddenly Derek and Gina are on the run...and when they uncover a secret so explosive it could blow the lid of their so-called reality show, these two unlikely heroes are about to discover what surviving's really about....

Intrigued? Of course you are! Here's where you can check out an excerpt. Or you can go to Jaci's website.

Marianne

A little bit about Hoboken Hipster...

I've been concentrating so much on writing Moongazer I haven't had much of a chance to talk about the long in coming sequel to my first book CT Fashionista which will be out in less than a month! And so I thought I'd take this moment to tell you a little bit about the book!

It's called "A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest" and it's a chick lit time travel, just like "A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court" but deals with the Robin Hood legend instead of the King Arthur one.

This is the cover.

Now for the premise:

Those of you who read CT Fash know that Kat, Lancelot and Guenevere are stuck in a time period they shouldn't be. At the start of Hoboken Hipster, Kat places a futuristic phone call for help to her coworker Chrissie (who makes a brief appearance in chapter one of the first book) begging her to go find the gypsy at King Arthur's Faire (i.e. Nimue, Lady of the Lake in disguise) to see if she can help. Chrissie agrees to do so, alebit reluctantly, and is told that in order to bring Kat back from the future, Nimue needs a special ingredient from the past. Problem is, with all the time travel Nimue's been doing herself, she can't make another trip. So it's up to Chrissie to go back in time to 12th century England, get the ingredient from Richard the Lionhearted, who brought it back from the crusades, and then come back to the 21st century so Nimue can cast her spell.

That's the basic premise. You can read an excerpt here. It starts at chapter two - so Chrissie's already back in time at this point.

The book is standalone - you don't have to have read CT Fashionista to understand what's going on. However, Kat makes numerous appearances in the story through cell phone calls to Chrissie. I love writing her character so much - I had to stick her in as much as possible!

As always, if you're looking to pre-order, you can do it so on Amazon.

Thanks for letting me share!

Marianne

Shopping and Surviving

Today I did some much needed clothes shopping. Got some olive suede boots, black ballet flats, a couple pairs of jeans, some cute tops and camis, a dress, black leggings and a skirt. Yes, basically I bought out the stores. Express was having an awesome sale though - couldn't resist. And the rest of the stuff came from H&M, which I love cause it's all fun, trendy clothes that are incredibly cheap. Ok, so they don't hold up that well or last that long, but since skinny jeans and bohemian tops won't be around long either - I can live with that.

Even so, I'm still woefully under wardrobed from last year's house fire. A lot of my summer clothes were saved, cause I was on a two week California/Reno trip when it happened and I'd packed my favorites. But as for winter clothes - I lost everything. Last winter I pretty much lived in Gap t-shirts and jeans and so now I'm trying to stock up with some more fun items.

Speaking of, I must say I feel extremely lucky as I sit here at my computer a year and a half later. Besides being short on a few clothes, I pretty much have everything I could possibly need/want here in my apartment. It's hard to believe such a short time ago I had nothing. It almost doesn't seem real - as if it happened to someone else. I guess as they say time heals everything. But in this case it wasn't just time, it was also the help from good friends and also perfect strangers. I will never forget all that the writer community did for me during that time. It makes me really believe in the goodness of people.

Now, before I get too teary eyed, I must go to bed. But thank you all who helped out. You mean the world to me.

xoxo
Marianne

Conspiracy Game trailer

So my friend/Shomi co-author Liz Maverick recently turned action adventure star (not a big stretch if you know her!!) and played the part of Brioni in a Christine Feehan book trailer for the novel Conspiracy Game. I'd seen the actual video on Christine's site and on Circle of Seven, but I just recently stumbled upon this on YouTube -- the making of the trailer. :)

I also like that Christine named Brioni's twin (featured in the next book of the series, I believe) Mari. Yay - I can be a Christine Feehan heroine too!! hehe.

Anyway - Check it out!!

Powerless - Literally

So I got home from work yesterday, ready to kick back and relax, but they were digging up something in my street and had knocked the power out!! Argh. I ended up going to a party over at my friend Lisa's house, which was way more fun than sitting home in the dark. Actually it was more fun than sitting home in the light as well. Lisa and her bf Caesar just got engaged and they showed us their video from their trip to Spain. (Where Caesar is fun.) I'm jealous. I sooo want to travel to Europe.

I got home around midnight and they were STILL digging. They didn't stop til about 4am. I have no idea what they were doing, but it was loud - drilling etc. I couldn't sleep from the noise. I love living in the city, but once in a while it can suck big time. The power FINALLY came on at 6am - and of course woke me up because all the lights burst on. Sigh. I'm happy it's back on though.

Tonight we might go to the movies. Not sure what we'll see. Next week is my friend Mary's birthday so it'll be a bigger deal. I'm fine with laying low this weekend anyway. Got a lot of book work to do. I've got about 18,000 words to go in Moongazer. Can't wait to be finished!!

:)
Marianne

Shout Outs, Cover Excitement, and Best Of

Happy Thursday everyone!

First off, a big shout out to my dear friend Kwana Jackson who just got an offer of representation from the Knight Agency, which in my opinion is one of the top romance representing agencies in the country, at the moment. Deidre and her cohorts ROCK. Kwana couldn't be in a better position. I can't WAIT to hear about her first sale and I'm sure it won't be long. YAY KWANA!

Another shout-out to Wendy Toliver, who sold her YA to Simon Pulse. Woot!! The book sounds really cool, too. THE SECRET LIFE OF A TEENAGE SIREN. Can't wait to read it, girl!

In my own news, I got to get a sneak peak at some cover art for my August book MOONGAZER and I am blown away by how cool it looks. Remember, this is one of the new SHOMI books so it has a manga (Japanese animation inspired) cover. But it's not cutesy, like some manga can be. Instead, it looks like a dark, gothic comic book - so freaking cool I can hardly stand it!! I'll post it as soon as it's finished and I get permission to do so. It very well might be my favorite cover yet.

Okay I saw this on Michelle Rowan's blog and I'm copying it. :)

BEST OF 2006

(According to Marianne)

Best book


Lunar Park, Bret Easton Ellis

Best movie
Match Point (DVD)


The Devil Wears Prada (In Theaters)

Best TV Show



Veronica Mars

Best Song



Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol

Best CD



Under the Iron Sea, Keane

New Year's Resolutions

Besides the typical eat healthier, exercise more, keep my apartment cleaner stuff, here are a few more of my New Year's resolutions:

* To not overcommit myself so I still enjoy writing books instead of always feeling rushed.

* To concentrate on my successes, not my failures - not be so hard on myself

* To not judge myself and my success by the performance and successes of others

* To keep an open mind to new possibilities in all aspects of my life

* To be supportive, but not let friends dump all their drama on me

* To find happiness and contentment with what I have and not always be so driven to find the next big thing

:)
Marianne

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve was okay - we went out to a very nice 7 course dinner and then to a party at the new Westin hotel in South Boston. The party was pretty lame - annoying men all up in your face, terrible music, a 15 minute line to get a drink, and a long wait for cabs home. Bleh. I won't be doing THAT next year.

But overall, the weekend was a success and a lot of fun. Especially since Teresa was here. Oh and we got some good shopping done on New Year's Eve day. Great sales on Newbury Street! I got 2 pairs of Steve Madden boots for only $135! (Regular would have been $400.) And I got some really cute things at Anthropologie too. :)

Anyway, here are a couple of NYE pics. I'll talk resolutions in a future post. :)

The Holiday

I saw "The Holiday" last night. It was really good. Romantic, funny, and a tear jerker. Not to mention Jude Law's in it. What more could you want. Anyway, I highly recommend it! :) (For you girls anyway. It's a definite chick flick!!)

Happy New Year's Eve!! :)

Marianne

Snow!!

It's snowing out today! Crazy. First real snow we've had this year. Global warming and all that, they say. (Don't get me started about the polar bears dying...grr..) So while usually I'm more than happy to avoid the white stuff, today it's a welcomed treat. Especially since Teresa is here and seeing as she's from LA, she hasn't seen it in a while.

Last night we went to Lucca for dinner in the North End. Had a great antipasto starter and then Pollo con Limone e Prezzemolo -- aka delicious lemon chicken over five grain risotto -- for dinner. Delish. Then we got wine and hung out at my place and caught up, listening to music, etc. Then this morning we went to the Phoenix Landing, this Irish pub in Cambridge, and met a few friends to watch footy (aka soccer!) Liverpool (my team) trounced the Tottenham Hotspurs 1-0 in the pouring rain. Yay!

Now we're going to head over to get pedacures. Teresa has a wedding to go to tonight so Mary and I are going to go to the movies. Figure that's a night mellow night out before New Year's Eve!

That's about it! Have a great day and watch out for snow!! :)

Marianne

Viva the Internet

I'm very happy because I found a place online where people have uploaded tv shows and I've been able to watch season three of Veronica Mars before it comes on DVD. I was so sad when I'd finished season 2 cause I thought I'd have to wait until the DVD came out for season 3. But thanks to modern technology I can catch up!! I'll still buy season three on DVD when it does come out, but at least now I don't have to wait.

And I can finally go read all the whited out text on Diana P's blog where she rants about the show. ;-)

Ah, the simple, but good things in life. :)

In other news... As you know, my friend Teresa is coming tonight to stay with me. So I've been busy, busy, busy cleaning my apartment. And...as you can see...I had a little help from Molls! :)

Haha!! The things I do to that poor dog. But don't let her pained expression fool you. Really she just sat around and ate Christmas bones while I did all the work. Most of which consisted of sweeping up the piles of black hair she leaves everywhere. I don't understand how that dog still has a fur coat, the amount she sheds!!

:)
MARIANNE

NYE Plans

Happy Thursday! Tomorrow my friend Teresa is flying in from LA. I'm sooo excited to see her!! It's been so long. She and I went to college together and then worked together at Channel 7 (she's a kick ass AVID editor) and then we both moved out to California at the same time (me to San Diego, her to LA). We did the trek between SD and LA many, many weekends and then four and a half years ago I moved back to Boston and she stayed out there. (She works on reality tv -- fun fun!!)

She's coming Friday evening and staying til Monday AM. Crazy girl has an 8am flight New Year's Day! I can't even imagine the torture.

For New Year's Eve, me, Teresa, Mary, and Heather are going to go to this ball at a Boston hotel. It's a black tie event, which is pretty cool. A chance to go dress up and dance the night away. Should be fun! I've never done the dress up thing for NYE before. I must be growing up. :) I'll try to take some pics and post them afterwards. I think I'll just wear the dress I wore to the RITAs at Nationals this past summer. Don't really have time or $ to shop for something new. Hopefully it's dressy enough...

:)
Marianne

eXistenZ

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Not many people have seen it. And most people who have seen it think it's very weird. (Well, it's a David Cronenberg movie, duh!) But oh, how I love it!

Post Christmas Wrap-up

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Mine was good. I got lots of cool presents and was able to spend time with family. Went to my dad's on Christmas Eve, had relatives over, stayed over, opened presents on Christmas Day, then went over my aunt's to see more relatives.

My favorite present was a pair of Black UGGS that were sold out everywhere and had to be special ordered from UGGS headquarters in Australia. Major props to stepmother Sherri, who endured laughter from sales clerks when she asked if they had any in stock and even spent quality time on eBay trying to win me a pair. :) Unfortunately, even Australia was backordered til January, but I'm just happy to know they'll soon be on their way. :)

Other gift highlights - an Asian inspired black jacket from the Limited, a fleece throw that doubles as an electric blanket for my couch (my apt is sooo cold), yummy soaps and body washes from LUSH - this amazing soap store on Newbury Street, movie gift certificates, a hot cocoa/latte maker, sweater from Banana Republic, starbucks gift certificates, etc. etc. Yes, I must say I made out very well this year.

Hope Santa was good to all of you as well.

Sadly, tomorrow I have to go back to work. Boo!! So not fair. At least I'm finally off the night shift. And my friend Teresa is flying in from LA on Friday, so I am happy about that. I've been cleaning my apartment, but a lot more still needs to be done in preparation for her visit.

Ok, now I'm feeling guilty - so I'd better get cleaning. :)

Marianne

Happy Friday Before Christmas

Yay it's Friday! And better yet, the Friday before Christmas, which means 4 days off from work. Okay, I know many of you have ALL next week off, but shhhh don't steal my sunshine. I'm happy to be off night shifts so next week won't be bad to work at all!!

I thought I'd like night shifts, but it turns out, not so much. I thought I'd write every morning, but while I did on many days, others (like today) I found myself very unmotivated. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get a lot done over the next four days. Going to NH to my dad's for X-Mas and whenever I'm not at home, I tend to write more. Probably because there are no dreaded distractions and other people are on hand to brew me copious amounts of coffee. Other people who actually have non-expired milk in their fridge, I might add :) Sigh. I'm such a mess domestically.

Anyway, what I'm REALLY excited about is New Year's Eve. My friend Teresa is coming out from LA to stay with me Friday through Monday. I haven't seen her in like four years - and she was once one of my best friends. So it will be soo soo good to catch up. And, of course, do New Years things. I'm not sure what yet, but our Activity Director Mary is on the case.

Anyway, must run, but Happy Holidays!! Hope Santa is good to you!

:)
Marianne

I'm up to 54,000 words on Moongazer now, but more importantly, I've worked out the end. It was fuzzy to me for a while -- I was playing with so many directions it could go in. But while jogging today, it all became clear and concrete.

I know everyone writes differently, but for me I run plots over and over in my brain, trying them out different ways, imagining different outcomes. And finally one sticks. So even when I'm not physically writing, I'm usually thinking things out in my brain. I can only compare it to a puzzle. I know there's a correct way for everything to come together, but it's not always clear at first.

Now all I have to do is draft the second half of the book and then go back, fill it all in, and then read it all over to make sure everything makes sense. I keep a list of hints to work into the beginning that have to do with things that end up happening in the end to give proper foreshadowing. That can be important -- you don't want your climatic moment to come out of nowhere and the reader to throw the book across the room, feeling angry and cheated. It's far better to set it all up in advance and give that reader an "aha!" moment. They do this in movies all the time -- whatever gift the hero is given in the beginning saves his life at the end. Etc. etc. It's all about the symmetry.

Anyway, got a lot of writing to do over the weekend. Not to mention that whole celebrating Christmas thing. (Still have to wrap presents, sigh.) Oh and I have a marathon Veronica Mars session planned. I'm well into the second season now and it's dark and cliffhangery and I need to know what happens next!!

MARIANNE

Now Touring: Venus Envy

I got to read an advanced copy of this one about a year ago and I'm still chuckling over Venus (yes, the goddess, now turned fairy godmother, much to her chagrin) and her antics. If you like chick lit paranormal romance then this is a book you should definitely check out.

VENUS ENVY

by Shannon McKelden

Take one hunky firefighter, one stubborn "Cinderella," and one very reluctant fairy godmother and what do you get? Rachel Greer wants no part of Venus's scheme to land Mr. March as her Prince Charming, but Venus is determined to do just that. She's only a few love-life fixes short of returning to her former goddess status, and she's not letting one mulish mortal stand in her way.

It appears the only way Rachel can get rid of the very un-Disney-like fairy godmother is to play along. So she follows Venus's plan to interview Luke Stanton's ex-girlfriends...which Venus believes will cure Rachel's relationship fears, but which Rachel knows will only prove her point that men are never what they appear to be. But, when Venus's plan appears to work, and Rachel and Luke fall in love, does Rachel dare set aside her fears about happily ever? Or will betrayal send her back into relationship seclusion...this time forever? And what happens when a goddess-turned-fairy godmother breaks the most important rule--protecting herself from human emotions?

Want to know more? You can read an excerpt here.

PNR Interview

The folks over at the awesome ParaNormal Romance Group are focusing on time travel romances this December and were nice enough to include an interview with yours truly.

You can check it out here. There are also interviews with other fab time travel authors like Diana Gabaldon, Sandra Hill, Deidre Knight, and others, including the sweet and adorable Michelle Lang who wrote a fab Arthurian urban fantasy called Mrs. Pendragon for Triskellion.

Marianne

Intense writing

Back from Florida - had gone for a long weekend to do a little pre-Christmas visit with Mom. It rained 2 of the days, but on the third it was sunny and warm and so we went to the beach. I didn't end up swimming because there were tons of jellyfish. Ew. But we went back to the pool and I swam in that instead.

Special shout-out to the awesome community relations manager at Barnes and Noble in Stuart, Florida. I love that even in chain stores there are still booksellers out there that really just love books and the business. I signed some copies of What, No Roses? and Stake That! if you are in the area and want to grab a copy.

I'm reading the best book. It's called Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It's one of those early 90s cyberpunk type books and a lot of it is very outdated (because the futuristic stuff he's talking about actually exists now!) but it's an amazing book. The first time in a LONG time I've been sucked into a book so deeply that I've decided to forgo sleep. :)

Speaking of cyberpunk, I'm almost to the 50k point of Moongazer. Yay! So I'm still right on schedule. My goal is to have it completed by January 15th, then go back and give it a final polish and pass it in on January 31st. That'll mean I wrote the whole book and polished it in two months. Not bad. In fact, I was pretty darn proud of this until I read in Marjorie Liu's blog today that she wrote 10,000 words in one day. Sigh. Though, in my defense, she writes full time.

This is an interesting experiment, actually, writing a book in a short period of time as opposed to stretching it out and doing my usual 1-2,000 words a day over four or so months. I feel much more invested and involved in this book's world and characters because I spend so much time with them. I'm not writing a few words, then going about my day. I'm living my life with them. They're my best friends. I actually turned down a party last weekend because I wanted to go hang out with my characters on Saturday night. Dawn, Skye and I have an intense, powerful relationship and I really love and care about them as if they were real people. (Yes, yes, we writers can sound crazy!)

In any case, I'm hoping this will translate somehow into the book itself and offer a more powerful story. At the same time, I'm looking forward to getting my life back come February. Never again will I sign up for this kind of deadline. I've learned my lesson. Balance in all things. Work, writing, friends, family.

Marianne

Titles and where they come from...

Diana has been talking about titles for her blog so I thougt I would continue the theme here. I'm very into titles and I usually can't start a book unless I am certain what it will be called. I've gotten to keep most of my titles, which is cool.

Here are my books, their titles and how their names came about:


A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court - obviously a play on the Mark Twain Title. The problem is some reviewers tried to say I plagerized Twain's book. Funny thing is I've never even read it. I just borrowed from the title. But as far as I've been told, Twain's book isn't a reliving of the King Arthur story as a romance told by a snarky 29 year old fashion editor so I think I'm safe. But if you parody titles of classic books, be warned you will be called on it.

Sk8er Boy - This is very close to the title of an Avril Lavigne song called "Sk8er Boi" making it very hard to GOOGLE. Also, it's frequently mispelled SK8TER BOY by people who evidently to realize there's already an implied "T" at the end of the letter eight.

Boys that Bite - Someone from some gramatical society pointed out on their blog that this had them gnashing their teeth because it should be "Boys who Bite." The original idea for this book was "Wow, That Sucks!" But I figured it might be hard to say and parents wouldn't let their younger teens by a book with "suck" in the title.

What, No Roses? - My editor came up with this idea of 20th century time travels and asked me to do one. They were going to originally do a whole series of these books and promote them a lot. Then the editor went to another company and they just dropped the whole idea. But I was stuck with a joke question title. The alternate title from my new editor was "Time to Roar" which I think is awesome for a time travel to the roaring 20s book. Oh well. Can't win them all.

Stake That! - Could have been called "Stake This" just as easily... My agent had suggested Love Bites, but that's also the title of a Lynsey Sands vampire book.

A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest (feb 07)- used to show that it's a sequel to Connecticut Fashionista. I wanted to call it a Hoboken Hippie but my coworkers didn't think hippies were cool enough and vetoed it. I still wrote Chrissie, the heroine, as a total hippie though.

Moongazer - (aug 07) - The original title of this was "Mariah's Web" which I love and fits the book, but my editor thought it sounded to Matrix'y and computer'y. I came up with the alternate title and I'm happy with it now. It used to be Moon Gazer, but the other two Shomi titles are one word titles - WIRED and DRIVEN. So I decided to keep with the trend.

Girls that Growl (oct 07) - I swear my editor bought this book on title alone. She told me she was having a bad day and she just read the title of this proposal and started giggling and couldn't stop. She said she then went around Berkley telling everyone the title. Since the book's about werewolf cheerleaders, I think it fits. :) What I've never told her is that the title was actually suggested by a (non-writer) friend and not one I came up with myself. :P

The Camelot Code (fall 08) - I don't know if I'll get to keep this title or not -- too early to tell. It was originally sold to Dorchester's Smooch line as "Camelot.com" but since that URL has been taken I decided it wouldn't be a good title. I wonder if people are going to think it sounds like the Da Vinci code. The two books certainly have nothing to do with one another.

There you have it! My titles and their histories!!

:)
MARIANNE

So...I made a quiz to celebrate the launch of STAKE THAT!

And then I decided to take it myself!

So which Boys that Bite twin are you more like? Sunny or Rayne?

:)Mar

Are you Sunny or Rayne?

You are Rayne!You're a creature of the night and sometimes a bit of a bad girl. You like your guys dark and moody. Poets rather than jocks. You don't care at all what people think of you and will dress how you want and act how you feel. Your life's dream is to become a vampire. Here's hoping you someday get your wish.Check out Rayne's adventures in: STAKE THAT! by MARI MANCUSI Take this quiz! Quizilla Join Make A Quiz More Quizzes Grab Code

No Life

I have no life.

Seriously. All my friends are dashing from holiday party to holiday party. They're seeing concerts, they're trimming trees. They're skiing. They're shopping. They're having FUN! Without a care in the world!

Not me.

I'm writing a book this holiday season. A book that's due January 15th. That means every morning before work and every night after work I sit down at my computer and type. I'm writing approximately 3-4,000 words a day--way above my average 1,000 word daily goal.

It's like I have this really posessive boyfriend. Everytime someone asks me to do something, I have to check with him. Can I go out for a drink Tuesday night? Well, only if I spent a few extra hours on Monday to get my word count done in advance. Can I go walk my dog on Sunday? Well, only if I take the commuter rail out to the suburbs instead of driving so I can have 2 hours on the train with my laptop. I decided to visit my mom in Florida next weekend just because I figured being stuck on in an airport and plane for 6 hours over a weekend would give me time for the book. Last night I had such a bad hand cramp I had to stop. But later I felt guilty and decided to try to work through the pain.

I normally consider myself a disciplined person, but this is getting ridiculous.

Okay - I know some of you are like, "Oh cry me a river! At least you get to write books." And I'm so with you. I love writing and I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to do so. And I love this book. So I don't really mean to come off complaining. I'm just saying it's been a little sad around the holiday season this year so far to have to say no to friends and family and be alone all the time. But we all make sacrifices at times and unfortunately this year this has to be mine.

But next year, I'm so taking December off.

:)
Marianne

Now Touring: Come Moonrise

Since I've been writing my book Moongazer, I've been seeing moon references everywhere. A psychic drew a moon card for me, I went to a writer's meeting over the weekend where they talked about moon dancing, and now here's a brand new story by Lucy Monroe called "Come Moonrise" in the anthology UNLEASHED.

Maybe I should start paying attention to all these signs!

Anyway, if you're done drooling over the cover, here's the blurb.

Ty MacAnlup has seen the tragedy that a mating between a werewolf and a human can bring and he wants no part of it, no matter how much his body and heart ache for a taste of Frankie's softness. Frankie has loved Ty for years and while she doesn't know he's a werewolf, or even that such things exist...she does know that to her, he's always been more than a mere man. Ty's hidden beast wreaks havoc with his determination to stay away from Frankie when they are trapped together in a small cabin in the snow bound wilderness.

Sound cool? You can find an excerpt here.

:)
Marianne

Rumors of my book deal have NOT been greatly exaggerated...

When my latest book deal with Dutton was publicized in Publisher's Lunch last week, my agent Kristin Nelson mentioned it on her blog. Then some anonymous poster went on and implied that Kristin had exaggerated the sale to garner film interest. Kristin posted the next day saying she was annoyed that someone would imply that she was a liar when it came to her deals. And it sparked a whole slew of posts both defending her and attacking the commenter's right to call her a liar.

And so it goes...

Anyway, to set the record straight, I wanted to post saying that the deal, of course, is not exaggerated. One, Kristin would never do such a thing. Two, I, as a self respecting author, would never let her! Besides, is it so hard to believe that for my 9th and 10th books I got a very nice deal? Eesh, it's not like saying I got a million dollars!! Not that I'm not thrilled with the deal, mind you, but I just don't see why people would assume it was exaggerated...

In other news...

I've hit page 100 on Moongazer. Woot! This book is practically writing itself. I wrote 8,500 words in 2 days. I just didn't want to leave my keyboard. Walk away from my characters. I think I might have a slight crush on my hero. Okay, I adore him. He just feels so real to me. And since I'm writing in first person I can kind of pretend, while I'm writing, that he's mine. (Ah, if only it were true!) I hope readers love him as much as I do. :)

Also...

I saw Stake That! in the Framingham Barnes and Noble today. The information desk guy said they'd already sold some copies. Cheer! Thanks to everyone who's gone out to buy one or plans to. I want this book to be successful cause I love this series so much and the only way to write more is to have people buy them. :) So help me feed my vampire obsession, please, please?

And finally...

I love Logan Echols from Veronica Mars. So much. He is totally my new boyfriend. Totally. And I don't care if that makes me sound like I'm 14.

<3
MARIANNE

Ritas, My Weekend, and Stake That in stores now

I'm not going to blog about how the YA category for the RITAs was cancelled AGAIN because I'm likely to swear a lot and say things about people who didn't enter that would be forwarded around the net and get me nasty comments. Plus, I'm trying not to be an angry, negative person and instead concentrate on all the good things in life. Flowers, bunny rabbits, rainbows...

ARGH!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY COULDN'T GET 25 PEOPLE (23 not counting me) TO ENTER THE YA CATEGORY OF THE RITAS!!!

Um, anyway...

On Friday I went over my friend Mary's house and we drank wine and ate sushi gave each other tarot card readings which, in our tipsy states, seemed extremely accurate.

On Saturday I gave a speech to the Rhode Island Romance Writers about becoming a trendsetter. They're a great group of women and it was a lot of fun. Then I had lunch with Reality Chick author Lauren Barnholdt and we chatted about writing, scandalous agents, deadlines, and of course Britney and Paris's new friendship and why neither of them can seem to wear underwear.

On Sunday I went to Concord, Mass. where I used to live, for a group dog walk. Gotta enjoy the good weather while we can. Then we ate out at the Colonial Inn, which is a very nice historic place.

I also managed to write 5,000 words of my book Moongazer. It's amazing how much faster writing goes when you're not writing comedy. It's doubly hard to write a story AND insert jokes. Now I just insert sex and violence when things start to drag. Yay!

And last but definitely not least - STAKE THAT is now out in stores!!! What a great Christmas present that would make for someone on your list. :)

MARIANNE

Arghh

Wow - this is so depressing to read. To big bookstores, we authors are simply widgets.

If you want a copy of Stake That, but you can't find it in your local bookstore next week, please, please, please ask them to order it for you!! Don't let them get away with not stocking books you want!!

Desperate Author Public Service Anoucement Ends.

Mar