Take a Look!

My editor sent me my cover for Candy Kisses today. Don' you love it? I do.

On Reading

Have you ever read a book that had just one wrong fact that you couldn’t get over, that made you enjoy the book less? I did recently.

The problem? The heroine was being urged to invest a large sum of money she’d inherited in an individual retirement account — an IRA. But, the most you can invest in an IRA this year is $4,000 — $5,000 if you’re age 50 or older, which the heroine wasn’t — plus another $4,000/$5,000 for your spouse. A grand total of $8,000/$10,000. These amounts have never been more.

I’m sure the author thought it was a minor point. It IS a minor point. I probably fixated on it because I write about retirement planning a lot in my day job. Some of what I write goes into the education sections of 401(k) plan enrollment books. (I may have written the “how to invest” section of your employer’s retirement plan enrollment materials.) Since I educate people about retirement planning, I hate to see inaccurate information out there.

Otherwise, I really liked this book. But I could have loved the book if this small point — a point that no one else probably noticed — hadn’t bothered me so. And now I’m bothered that I could do the same thing to one of my readers.

Valentine's Day

How could a romance writer not post a Valentine's Day message? Mine is about a romance in the making.

Last night Caelin, 9, and Dru, 7, were making valentines for school. Caelin created works of art for each of her girl friends -- all of the girls in her class and a few in other classes -- and plain cards for the boys in her class.

Dru made only one which he brought to me for help. "How do you spell Helen?" He wrote it down. "How do you spell like? He wrote away again. "You?" More writing. Then, he put his card in an envelope and sealed it. "How do you spell Helen, again?" He made out the envelope. Then, he swore me to secrecy and entrusted the card to my coat pocket in case school was closed today. Couldn't take the chance his sister might see it. School was closed. We're having a blizzard. So, the card is still in my pocket waiting to go to school tomorrow.

Yeah, it's been forever . . .

I've been slaving away, writing, writing, writing. Unfortunately, it's all been for a client's guide to lifetime giving. You know, saving gift tax, estate tax, income tax -- all that. My current book in progress, Mara's Move, hasn't moved all month.

But I have managed to get a new excerpt from Candy Kisses up on my website, www.JeanCGordon.com

Blatant Self Promotion

For anyone who's interested, I have an excerpt from my upcoming Avalon romance Candy Kisses on my website, www.JeanCGordon.

I'm going to post a new excerpt from either Candy Kisses or my Cerridwen historical My Lady Viking each month until they come out.

Belated Thanksgiving Wishes

Hope everyone had a great day yesterday with friends and family.

I've been scarce lately, busy:

• Writing new scenes for My Lady Viking, formerly Milady Viking (Cerridwen Press, 2007)
• Filling out cover copy forms for it and Candy Kisses (Avalon Books, June 2007)
• Writing cover copy for Candy
• Updating my bio for both
• Putting together a list of reviewers for my Avalon editor
• Contemplating updating my website. I may have an excerpt from Candy up in a day or two.
• Heading up a project at my day job, writing ten financial planning workshops and workbooks.

By the end of the weekend, I hope I have it all together. And you probably thought writing the book was the hard part.

Guest Bloggers

Welcome my guest bloggers Kym and Caelin.

Have you seen the movie Cars?

If you haven't seen Cars, you should.

Kym: My favorite character from the move is Lightning McQueen.

Caelin: He's my favorite, too.

Kym: Cars is funny.

Caelin: Now on DVD.

Candy Kisses

Achoo! The dust had piled up in here again. But I've swept it away to announce that I have a publication date for Candy Kisses. It will be out in June 2007 from Avalon Books.

I'll see if I can get Candy to stop by later this week and introduce herself.

Jean

Write and Bowl

You may have heard of rock and bowl? Well, I'm a fan of write and bowl. Dru has started bowling in a kiddie league on Saturday mornings. This morning,I brought along a pad and pen. Between cheering for pins down and commiserating with him over gutter balls, I got a page written on my motocross reunion story.

It's like traveling back in time. I wrote my whole second Avalon romance at bowling alleys when Dru's Uncle Nate was on the local travel team and not yet old enough to drive himself to matches.

BTW, I found out how much top motocross racers can earn in a year -- a million or two.

Motocross Anyone?

I am trying to find out what a top motocross racer earns in a year. Anyone know? It's for a reunion story I'm writing.

Only in America

PREFACE: I mean the title in a good way. I am not a particularly political person. I have my opinions and I vote in both national and local elections. I also listen to political commentary and read about candidates before elections so I can make informed choices.

On my way to work this morning I was listening to primary election results. The winner of one congressional primary is likely to be the first Muslim elected to Congress. This made me smile. But what made me think "only in America" was the newscaster saying what state this congressional district is in.

Do you know? It wasn't New York.

School Days

Today was the first day of school for the kids at our house. It's the first year they've taken the school bus. Other years, Mom or Dad were able to drop them off on the way to work. But Dad has a new early work schedule and Mom has early nursing classes. I was all set to take photos of Dru and Caelin stepping on the bus. But the bus came 15 minutes early and all I managed to do was scoot them out and off.

Now that I'm long out of school -- and don't have to fear being uncool -- I can admit that I loved school. I still enjoy going to the continuing education courses required for my financial planner designation and, of course, the workshops at writing conferences. One of my favorite parts of my day job is the research, keeping up with tax and law changes and new investment strategies.

How about you?

Labor Day

In honor of Labor Day, here are our labors for the weekend. My son-in-law built a new work table for his workshop over the garage and





connected the electrical service to the garage.




Caelin created a wire woman.



The dh and I installed a tin ceiling over the wood stove in our living room.






And Sweet Pea perfected her trampoline stick fetching.

MIA

This week totally got away from me. I spent a lot of time transporting and hanging out with the youngest generation at our house.

Firewood, anyone?

I even took a hiatus from my book. But, it's a new month. Back to the grindstone. I'm going to try dividing my writing time between the single title I've been working on and my next chick-lit for Avalon.

I also thought I'd start sharing my other persona with you -- financial writer -- with periodic tips. Here's the first one.

September Financial Tip of the Month: Don’t wait for a “better” time to invest for your retirement. Instead, start now — and don’t stop until you reach your goals.

Loose Change Calendar

Copyright 2006 by NPI

www.Newkirk.com

What Was the Name of That Book?

Back to what I'm reading -- have read, actually. Wednesday Marie Bellevaux asked on the Cerridwen authors' blog "what is the book that you most remember now? What book/author left a big impression on you that you still remember today?"

For me, The Bride by Julie Garwood immediately came to mind. It was the second romance I read. I love her historicals for a fun read and have to admit that I have not read any of her contemporaries for fear that they wouldn't be as fun. Second, I thought of Mary Jo Putney's (a continuing theme here) The Rake and the Reformer, for emotion. I read the original version and have it on my keeper shelf. Then, an historical I judged in RWA's RITA contest a couple of years ago came to mind. But, I can't for the life of me remember the author or the title. Bad Jean.

I'm pretty sure it opened in Vienna. The hero was Eastern European/German state nobility. The heroine probably was, too, although she was living in England. Maybe had a son. It was a reunion story. What I do remember is that it had rich historical detail and historical intrigue. I couldn't forget. I meant to save the book and look for more by the author, but, apparently, I donated the book to my library's annual book sale.

Anyone have any idea of what book I'm remembering.

Contests

Who has an opinion on writing contests? Good? Bad? Ugly? I've had three experiences. The first was very good. The second was pretty neutral. The last was ugly.

Library Day

Yesterday was library day. I picked up the kids from Chess Club.










And we picked out our books.

Yep, more Mary Jo Putney for me. I also put in a request for the next two books in Beverly Lewis' Abram's Daughters series, The Betrayal and The Sacrifice. The only ones on the shelf were the first one, The Covenant, which I've read and the last one. I want to read them in order.

What Are You Reading?

I just finished book four of Sara Donati's Wilderness Series. The books are historical romantic sagas set in post-revolutionary northern New York. Part of the fun in reading them has been recognizing the various settings in the stories. I've been to almost all of them.

They are all very long -- in the 600-page range -- and I've noticed a pattern. About half to three quarters through, my interest flags a bit. But I keep reading because the endings always leave me satisfied, but longing for more. I'm looking forward to the fifth book due out this fall.

What am I reading next? Mary Jo Putney's Bartered Bride. I don't know how I missed this one when it first came out. I've read all her books. A bit of trivia: Mary Jo grew up in the next little village over from where I grew up in Western New York.

The Work Continues

It seems our renovations are in sync with my writing. Three windows in, three pages written, and, drum roll, ta da: one new door.

That's my lovely daughter displaying the door. It opens into her kitchen.

Let the Work Begin

Here's Druhan, age six, giving Uncle Michael a hand . . .







making sure everything is nice and level.


Good thing someone is working. I've been so excited about selling Milady Viking that I haven't written much of anything new since last Thursday.