Happy Friday!

Happy Halloween-Eve (not sure if that's quite proper, since Halloween is technically All Hallows Eve so now we have eve of an eve... but I digress).

I got two reviews in yesterday for Lone Star Trouble.
The first was a good review (however, I kept waiting for the big "but") so I can't complain:
Night Owl Romance

This second, is wonderful (and so is the reviewer's name ):
Dark Diva Reviews

I do very much appreciate the time and effort it takes these folks to do reviews. It's a big (generally unpaid) contribution to the industry as a whole. Thanks, reviewers!

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Fun

This is the official back cover copy for my next release, Trouble Under Venus:

For some, love lasts a long time, for others, a lifetime. Can theirs outlast space-time?

Randi's summer vacation plans? Attending Professor Sudo's Time Travel Academy so she can blast back to 1980 Miami and figure out where her father disappeared to. She's head of her class until hottie Mitch arrives disguised as a geeky geologist and totally messes up her meditation. Goodbye Soulful in Sedona, hello Yearning in Yoga. So long solo time travel, hello pushy partner--who happens to be a buff triathlete, a sympathetic listener and an ace FBI agent on a top-secret mission. With is help, she'll conga her way into the Cuban mafia, try not to destroy the delicate fabric of the space-time continuum, dodge a few bullets, and solve the Mystery of the Missing Dad. And maybe fall just a little in love...

Content Warning: A new adventure in women's fiction, with a heroine who boldly goes where no chick has gone before, tons of danger and intrigue, a roller-discoing granny, life and death betrayal, steamy Miami nights and one hot FBI agent.

Hope it sounds fun!

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Tube Tuesday

This whole video is cute, but I really love her "light bulb moment" at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPc3AzAAVdE&feature=related

Happy Tuesday to ya.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Things That Suck More Than Mondays

These are "super-noyas", things that irritated me so much I thought my head would implode like a dying star...

Yesterday morning I woke up only to find my Reader had de-charged itself all night while plugged into my laptop, rather than re-charging. When the laptop went into its power-save mode, the Reader seemed to think it was plugged into nothing (as it does when plugged into a charger which fits its port but isn't the $50 Sony accessory....grrr) and kept searching for a computer. So it was beyond dead and I had to wait to read the fabulous manuscript I've been previewing (A Bitch Named Karma - so excited to be working on it!). Yah, not what I wanted to wake up to.

This morning at 6 AM we got serenaded by some God-awful racket coming from our Universal Power Supply, from which all sorts of things get their juice - my son's desktop, the printer, the router and modem. Took forever to stumble around his room and figure out what gadget was making the racket (which makes the sound from smoke detectors sound like a lullaby). Luckily my man found the power switch and was able to shut the sucker down, and a while later it powered up okay. Might be time to replace that puppy, though.

Hope your Monday started off better!

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Just for Halloween - Coffin Crocs

We thought we were being clever when we installed the kitty door and moved le box d' litter out to the garage/storage area.

Except. One of our brilliant kitties keeps catching mice and hauling them inside through said kitty door, to play with and occasionally lose in our house.

Ick.

One morning this week, I'd just come out of the shower in my robe to find both cats actively pursuing a lil gray rodent in the kitchen and living room area. From experience, I've learned to kinda stay out of the way and wait for them to do their thing with the mouse and then swoop in and remove at the earliest possible wiggle-less moment.

Senor Gato lost le mouse in all the shoes parked under the bench by the front door. But he knew where it was and waited patiently, and I wasn't all that wild about moving shoes and having the critter run up my leg or something. So I let him wait. It finally became obvious the mouse was in or under one of my cute pink crocs (image above for those not in the Croc-know).

Still, I waited.

Until my daughter started screaming, and I went to check it out, and there was little mousy-poo with his head, neck, and some shoulders, trying to fit out through one of the holes near the toe of the shoe. I mean, the shoes are made of stretchy stuff, but really?

Kinda wish I'd gotten a photo.

Epilogue: I put the shoe outdoors and let the lil bugger go, hoping he doesn't ever return to the garage.

Happy Friday.

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy!

Some days

Sometimes you just need a day to fall apart.
But then I have to wonder: Who's gonna help pick up the pieces? It's probably too much trouble.

Piper Denna

What we're up against

So I was on my flight home Monday, sandwiched between an elderly couple (a victim of SouthWest's new open-seating policy -- make sure to do earlybird internet check-in so you can get on the early boarding group and get good seats! And even after getting dissed on seating for this return flight, I'm still all for SW because they don't charge for luggage like all those shyster airlines do), and had my *whoosh* handy-dandy Sony Reader out, doing galley reviews and using the oh-so-spiffy bookmark feature to dogear virtual pages where things need fixed.

The old guy started asking me questions about the Reader. He loved it. Plans to buy one for his daughter for Christmas because whenever she visits from Phoenix, she brings a ton of books. And it's available at Target? How convenient! He has a Target nearby in San Francisco.

When his wife took a breather from reading and glared back at the screaming baby behind us, he says, "Hey Ma, look at this. This is a book!"

She poked at her Target discount paperback and said, "This is a book." Like so the hell what?

Eh. Can't win 'em all, right? When you think about it, though, naturally the dudes would be attracted to electronics. Maybe some store should run a sale - buy the new Crichton/Grisham/King ebook for $250 and get the Reader free! Guys don't seem to look at prices anyhow, so they'd be totally stoked about getting such a neato gadget.

Autumn Piper
Got romance? (Got reader?)

Nominating my Mom

I'm personally nominating my mother for both Grandma of the Year and Mom of the Year...

She took care of the niblets for the last 5 days, fed them, put up with fighting, took them shopping, played Monopoly with them, and even washed up their clothes!!

Wondergranny.

Autumn Piper
Got romance?

Jet Junkie

Today's the last leg home, which means my last flight for awhile. And I have to confess: Contrary to the many people who hate it, I love it. Including and especially the take-off.

I'm stoked.

Hasta la byebye, heartland.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Blogland to the Heartland

I'm on a trip and don't have lots of time to blog today, but I did get to preview the very lovely wraparound cover for Lone Star Trouble's print edition. It's awesome.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Autumn Piper
Got romance

Kinda Disappointing

I was killing time at Walmart the other day and (naturally) went to the book department. What I found in the Young Readers section was a real bummer. 90% of what they stock is geared toward girls and nearly every one of those titles is a vampire story.

Really?

Is that ALL they think kids want to read? What if, say, a girl didn't want to read about vamps? Or her mom wouldn't let her?

And of the boy-books, half of those were Harry Potter (granted, fabuloso, grade A reading, but so many boys have already done them). Not much to entice the young guys into cracking open a book these days. I think we need J.K. Rowling to step back into the YA arena and give them something new and thrilling...

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Watcha Readin' Wednesday

I started reading the new Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol, for a book club, but keep finding myself with the Reader open to the next book I'll be editing... A Bitch Named Karma, by Stephanie Haefner. It's chick-lit (which I'm thrilled to finally have on my editing roster!) and a ton of fun.

Mr. Brown will just have to wait.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Just for giggles

...Not to be viewed in the workplace.

My fab friend Amanda turned on me on to this site (Thanks, A). Makes me giggle every time I go there looking for new stuff. I'm even considering going Twitter just so I can get the feeds immediately...

http://twitter.com/Shitmydadsays

Happy Tuesday.

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Things That Suck More Than Mondays - Runaway mouths, part deux

Let me just express this one very strong opinion. I don't believe in the heat of the moment that people say things they don't mean. I fervently believe they DO mean what they say - even though they might later regret it.

Which just goes back to my belief that you can't take words back. Ever. Once they're out there... consider them like space trash, always hovering out there someplace...

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy - big mouths, not so much.

'Fuscius Friday

A gem on marriage, this one from Mrs. Fuscius:

You know you've been married forever when his foot brushes against yours, and you nudge him back thinking he's playing footsie, only to be informed he was trying to shove you out of his "space".

Ahh, wedded bliss. And we wonder where the romance goes?

Have a great weekend!


Autumn Piper
Got romance?

New entry for writer's dictionary

Edi-dar: \ed-uh-dar\noun:
Ability to spot flaws, mechanical errors, and see room for improvement in any piece of writing. Commonly afflicts those who participate heavily in critique groups or edit. Sudden onset is the bane of an avid reader’s existence. A terminal condition – once symbiosis with reading skills has occurred, impossible to be rid of. Remains active whether reading for pleasure, ordering from a menu, scanning news articles or assembling a new purchase using the owner’s manual. Known to create writer’s block. Active edi-dar can induce rolled eyes, palm imprints on foreheads, and pulled-out hair. Not to be confused with edi-doh, a situation where an obvious error slips notice during edits.
See also inner editor.

Wednesday WOOT

Big congrats going out to one of my newer authors, Brynna Curry, and her fab cover win for the first in her series, Earth Enchanted.

Check it out:

http://embracetheshadows.wordpress.com/

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Tube Tuesday - Alien Song, an oldie but goodie

I think we had this one on our first ever internet-connected computer, but it still makes me grin:

Alien Song

Happy Tuesday to ya!

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy!

Things That Suck More Than Mondays

... Big, Fat, Mouths.

I'm talking about people who say mean things because it apparently makes them feel good, and then think they can take it back later. I'm also talking about people who speak without thinking and say careless, hurtful things, then claim innocence.

To which I say,

Bullshit.
You're responsible for what comes out of your mouth. We hold young school children responsible for what they say, so why not adults? I don't think apologies are acceptable consequences for verbal unkindness.

"Let the punishment fit the crime," is the old saying. Anybody have ideas?

Piper Denna
Romance is sexy, but big fat mouths, notsomuch.

Fun Fact for Friday

My groggy early morning forays into wakefulness seem to be churning up a plethora of seldom-useful, if often well-known facts (such as it's easier if you wait to cut the bread until after you've built the sandwich). I have yet to run coffee all over the counter this school year, but the day is probably a-comin'.

Well, this morning my half-awake unalertness resulted in an interesting quality test. Jim's off work so I didn't have to make a lunch for him (or run the highly risky coffee maker), which meant I had more time. Maybe it'd be a good day to remove some girth on my legs by shaving...

I unintentionally slathered Jim's shave gel (rather than my pink lady kind, which is a splurge from my normal use of hair conditioner) on my leg in preparation to shave. So I went with it, and then used the lady stuff on my other leg... which made me think of a commercial, but did help me wake up. And the result? The Gillette Fusion man-gel is thick and rich (and smells way more marvelous). It really clings to the skin, which I think might be part of why that leg feels so much nicer and not as itchy. It could also be why I missed more spots on the Envi leg - the stuff wanted to slide right off and it's harder to keep track of what's been shaved and what hasn't! So, nothing scientific, but I did use the same razor on each leg (you know, the constant), and the Fusion skin feels nice, not irritated like the other. Using man-gel might just encourage me to shave more often...

Autumn Piper
Got sleep?

Candy Corn and Spiders

Welcome to October (don't ask who died and made me hostess...)! This month always makes me think of blowing leaves, caramel apples (just the caramels are fine too) and candy corn, which I find rather disgustingly sweet now that I'm grown, but are cute and cheap to buy and have around for my kids. So I'm not one of those moms who avoid sweets... sue me. :)

Almost everyone who reads my blog knows by now I've had a yucky spiderbite experience this week. A couple of my more clever friends have made Spiderman innuendos (Amanda and Kate, you silly-heads), which got me thinking... well of course Spidey got super powers after being bit by a tiny 8-legged monster! It was a comic/movie -- how boring would it have been if instead he ended up with injectable antibiotics!!! (not fun, really). Soooo. About these superpowers. I don't suppose the swinging-from-tall buildings power would do me much good, since Rifle is a bit deficient in the skyscraper department (although to be honest the short people in classrooms some days do make me wanta climb the walls!). Hyper-hearing? Uh, no thanks. Again, kidlets often make me yearn for temporary hearing loss... think how peaceful it would be, how easy to tune out unwanted sounds... But I digress, as usual. Now, super-vision might be okay. As one who suffers extreme near-sightedness, I could totally dig seeing extra-well. And what I'd really really like to have is Spidey's Foresight power - the way he's so aware, he can see things happen seconds ahead of time. God, that would be fun to employ in the classroom!

Before I start sewing my suit (pink and black would be good, no?), I'll wait a couple days for the powers to develop. And I've no plans to go cage-fighting with fat, sweaty men, by the way...

Happy Thursday!

Autumn Spider
Got romance?