I've been tagged

After two months (I'm so bad) I'm here because I was 'tagged'. Thanks, Syd.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. Ice Cream Parlor
2. Call Center Rep for a Horse Tack Co.,
3. Correspondence Representative, Mutual Fund Company
4. Novelist counts, right?

Four Places I’ve lived:

1. Cherokee Valley, AZ
2. Dover-Foxcroft, Maine
3. Rutland, VT
4. Hampstead, NH

Four favorite foods

1. Turkey and Fixin'
2. Lasagna
3. Pie... any kind, really
4. Eggs Fo Yong

Four movies I could watch over and over:

1. White Christmas
2. The Princess Bride
3. Pretty Woman
4. Serenity

Four TV shows I enjoy:

1. Stargate SG-1
2. Doctor Who
3. Stargate Atlantis
4. House

Four places I’ve traveled:

1. Orlando, Florida
2. Long Beach, California
3. Quebec, Canada
4. Nassau, Bahamas

Four places I’d like to visit:

1. Ireland
2. Scotland
3. London
4. Western Caribbean

Four websites I go to (almost) daily:

1. Homestead.com
2. Triskelion Publishing.net
3. Ebay
4. Bank

Four people I’m tagging to do this too:

1. John Pelkey
2. Chrystal Kincaid
3. Angela Verdenius
4. Michele Lang

My resolve to keep up on this Blog...

Boy, my resolve to post consistently here didn't last very long, did it? I'm trying. I really and truly am. I've just been so amazingly busy it's not funny.

But... I would lik to share something I've been working on. This is a sort of 'commercial' for The Phoenix Rebellion series. I hope you enjoy.

Best Romantic Movies???

I've seen some chatting lately about the best romantic movies, and I realize that on many levels I have a different opinion on 'good romance'. Movies liked Gone With The Wind and The Sound of Music were discussed.

Personally, I couldn't stand GWTW and TSOM did nothing for me. :-)

Yeah, I loved a few 'chick flicks'... but usually because they did a darn good job of hitting me deep and hard. I'm not a romantic comedy girl... more romantic drama.

So, what are some of my favorites?

Jerry Maguire... Yeah, chick flick all the way if you get past the Football.

As 'out there' as Tom Cruise is considered being, he is an emotional actor. I love that. When he cried at the thought of losing his wife due to his own stupidity... that was good.

And lord, what woman doesn't want to hear "You complete me." *sigh*




Another one I always enjoy watching is Angel Eyes with Jennifer Lopez and James Caviezel. I love this movie because it's a plot I could have easily written myself. LOL! Wounded-Soul hero who lost his world and his heart when he lost his wife and son. Heroine who is afraid to open herself to love because of the pain in her past. In each other they find healing and live again. And James Caviezel is HOT!

One Fine Day with George Clooney and Michelle Pfeifer... love it! The entire movie takes place in the course of a single day as two single parents try to get through one day... they start out not caring for each other all that much, but by the end of the day they're dancing in the rain and sleeping together... literally, sitting beside each other asleep on teh couch while their kids watch The Wizard of Oz in the other room. :-)

Bed of Roses and Untamed Hearts, both staring Christian Slater. Bed of Roses is much like Angel Eyes, which is probably why I like it. CS plays a man who lost his wife to death, so he has a hole in his soul. The heroine had a troubled past and isn't willing to open up to him... running scared when he asks her to marry him. In the end, of course, they both find healing in each other. Untamed Hearts was a heartbreaker... I cried so hard at the end of that movie. I usually don't like movies that end the way this one did... but, I still loved it.

An American President... Michael Douglas and Annette Benning. What is there not to love? He's a widower... oh, and he's the President of the United States. :-) When his Chief of Staff offers to 'pass a note during study'.... I love it. This movie was, by the way, the original inspiration for the television series, West Wing.

I'm focusing on the more modern movies, but of course there are the classics: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Casablance, A Love Story, An Affair to Remember...

okay... that's enough time wasting for today... :-)

Gail

Winner of Contest and New Contest

For the months of August and September, I ran a contest to win a beautiful, top quality, never been used, fresh-as-a-Daisy Phoenix COFFEE MUG!

Woohoooo!

And today I've drawn the winner.

The winner is Sheila Emanis of Houston, Texas!

*and the crowd goes wild!*

For the month of October, I will be posting trivia questions - and from the correct answers, the winner will receive a free download of Lightning Strikes Twice - My November release as Katelyn Hughes.

Enjoy!

Gail

New book Cover and catching up

Sorry I've been silent for a bit... things have been a bit crazy around here the last couple of weeks. I went away for a few days, and then we had a sudden death in the family.

But, after the morose feel of my last posting, I want to be more upbeat in this one! :-)

I've received the cover art for my November releasee under the name Katelyn Hughes - titled Lightning Strikes Twice. This is my premier release as Katelyn Hughes, and I hope it goes well.

I will be giving away an ARC of the book shortly, so if you're not already signed up - join my Yahoo group to get the details.

On the writing front, still working on the Garrison: Freedom book... haven't made much progress.

That's all for now!

Gail

Nostalgia and Peanut Brittle

When a woman grows up and moves out of the house to create her own family - her own life - if she's lucky, she can look back and say "My mom was my best friend".

I feel doubly lucky. I didn't wait until I left home to realize this fact. I always knew my mom was my number one best friend, greatest supporter, and number one teacher. If I am half the mother to my children that my mother was to me, then I think I can be proud.

I lost my mother eleven years ago. I was twenty-two years old, barely a mother myself, and absolutely not ready to be 'motherless'. There was so much I still wanted to learn from her. How to make her homemade stuffing at Thanksgiving. How to fold those damn fitted sheets. How to talk to my daughter when she was old enough to ask the tough questions. How to stick it out when things get tough.

So, why am I writing about her today?

My daughter is doing a fund raiser for school. Selling candy and gift wrap. I was sitting here, flipping through the catalog, and saw a box of peanut brittle. One word rushed to my mind.

Mom.

Mom loved peanut brittle... and ginger snaps... and pickled pig's feet (but we won't go there). And just seeing a box of that particular candy brought her to mind and tightened my throat with a massive wave of missing her.

Most people think of the loved ones they lost around special dates... their birthday, the holidays, the day they died... but I think of Mom in the little things. The small moments that you don't realize mean so much until there are no more of them.

My father, after eleven years of being alone, recently found a woman who put the sparkle back in his eyes and the life back into his smile. And I couldn't be happier. I liked her from the moment I first talked to her, and my kids ADORE her. But, it wasn't her pleasant personality or the way she looked at my dad that made me like her.

When I went to visit, my mother's pictures were on the shelf.

Why is this important? I say my father was alone for eleven years, but the truth of it is he did become involved with a woman for a short period of time that wrecked him. She was more words than I want to express and I don't want to waste my time even talking about her. The worst thing she did was try and erase my mother from my father's life. My parents were married for twenty-seven years... you can't erase that. But she tried.

And therein lies the difference. My mother is back on the wall. She's back in the picture frames. And she's not a topic to be danced around.

My father told me that one day he had been outside - doing whatever - while Maureen was cleaning the kitchen. He told me he walked onto the porch and heard her talking. When he asked her who she was talking to, she told him "I was talking to Maxine. I was thanking her for making this house a home for you, and for loving you the way she did".

Beyond the photos... beyond all else... that was the moment I knew I would pray this woman never leave my father's life.

It's strange how this entry went from my mother to another woman. :-)

I believe that the greatest kind of love that lets you love another even when you are gone. Your love was such a gift, so pure, that you left the ones you love with enough peace to seek it again. My mom did that.

So, today, I'm thinking of my mom. I'm alittle melancholy, but I'm proud... proud to have been her daughter.

Gail

Kisses that shouldn't happen...

*Can't get a photo to load, dang it... if it'll load later, I will*

Here's another one of those kisses that turned me inside out and made me think "holy crap!"

This one is from the also cancelled show JAG. Aaaahhh.... all the good ones are gone.

I wasn't a devout watcher of JAG, but I watched it enough to cheer on the two main characters, Harmon Rabb aka 'Harm' and Sarah MacKenzie aka 'Mac'.

From the beginning these two danced around each other. I couldn't tell you the first time they gave in to the attraction and kisses... or the second... or the third... but they never let it go any further. Another case of that silly "No Fraternization" Rule in the military.

So, of all the kisses, why do I like this one the most?

This kiss happens at Mac's engagement party to an Australian officer named Bromby (I think that was his name...). While everyone is inside celebrating Mac's impending marriage, she and Harm are on the porch, reminiscing about all the cases and disasters and things they've gone through together. Like a gentleman, he offers his jacket when she gets cold.

And then it's time to go inside, to face her fiance and his girlfriend. But somehow, somewhere between the porch and the door, they kiss. At first it's just a friendly brush of the lips... but it quickly spirals into a kiss swelling with need and remorse for what wouldn't be.

They both fight it... you can see it in their bodies as they resist the urge to hold each other. One would begin to pull back and the other would follow, not letting the kiss end. It's a tug of war - back and forth - knowing they shouldn't be doing this - knowing it should stop, but unable to.

It's ... wow...

JAG also gave me one of the sexiest, yet simplest, line of dialogue I've ever heard on a prime time television show.

It's a few episodes later, and although I can't remember all the details, I know Mac is torn between following her fiance or Harm. Harm has been injured and is at home, stuck in his bed. Trying to find her 'ground', she calls him. He picks up the phone, and at first she says nothing.

Silence stretches...

And then, in this amazingly sexy and deep voice, he says "Mac, come to me."

*Gail melting in her chair*

Holy cow...

So, that's another inspiring kiss... so many kisses, so little time.