Any of you who belong to Romance Writers of America might be aware that the elections for the new national Board of Directors are officially underway. Ballots were sent out September 1, and have to be back by September 30.

But, did you know I’m running for a seat on that board?!?

It’s true. Since leaving Florida 4 years ago, I haven’t found a “home chapter” that I really adore the way I did FL-STAR–the chapter I helped co-found in 1997. And to be honest, I really miss interacting with authors and having a lot of hands-on involvement with a professional writer’s group. I served in a number of offices in STAR, including president, newsletter editor, PAN liaison, conference chair…so it’s really been hard for me to sit on the sidelines and have no real professional outlet. I have a lot of online interaction, but I really wanted to get involved again, at a higher level, and I figured running for a seat on the board would be a great way to do that.

Anyway, if you’re a member, I would sincerely appreciate you considering giving me your vote for Region 1 Director. The RWA website has a whole q&a section where candidates talk about their goals, experience, etc. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s definitely worth checking out: http://www.rwanational.org/cs/2010_elections

And while you’re there, look for another familiar name from the jungle! Our own Penny “Silver” James is also running. Wouldn’t it be cool to have two jungle regulars on the board?

So, my daughter and I have been experiencing a strange phenomenon lately. I think it’s an offshoot of the fact that we are together 24/7–but more often than not, we can read each others minds.

It doesn’t happen all the time, but yesterday, for instance…she went with me to the grocery story. We went to the deli, where I ordered three things, then asked her to hang out and wait for them while I headed over to the produce section. I’d ordered 1/4 pound of three items–it really shouldn’t have taken very long, but the store is small and my daughter is nearly 13, so I didn’t worry too much…until I started to worry.

The moms out there know the feeling…it’s like we have an internal clock inside that judges precisely how long we should be separated from our child in public before something must be wrong. I’d plumbed the produce section for what I needed and she still wasn’t anywhere to be seen. So I headed back to the deli. Before she even made eye contact with me, she said, “I knew you were worried.”

From a distance, she felt it.

(The hold up was that at our deli, they want to give you samples of everything you order…this takes time, but of course, my daughter wasn’t about to say no to her favorite cheeses and deli meats!)

The other night, it happened in the dark. Because of an errant bug (welcome to Florida) in her room, she ended up sleeping with me. Lights were out…she was on the other side of the king-sized mattress…I was drifting off to sleep thinking about the dance class she had to go to…and she pipes up and says something about dance class.

No body language to read–no facial expressions.

Telepathy.

Now, I’m not psychic in any way at all. I’ve never had any experiences (until now) that are like this at all…but my daughter concluded after the grocery store incident that she was going to spend a little more time at her best friend’s house because this connection thing was freaking her out. She was there all afternoon yesterday and is likely returning to her own bed tonight.

So…have you ever had any weird psychic-like connections with anyone or experienced any other strange phenomena like that? Did it freak you out or did you just think it was kind of cool?

Welcome to the KISS ME IF YOU CAN Bookclub!

I’m so excited to be here with you guys today to talk about KISS ME IF YOU CAN. I asked for questions and you guys answered! In case you didn’t see Sunday’s post, I had promised I’d pick 3 winners to receive signed copies of LOVE ME IF YOU DARE. Thanks to all who submitted questions!

The winners are:

Patricia Sinclair
Denise Sutton :applause
Bella Franco

Congratulations! Email me at: carly phillips @ mac . com no spaces to confirm your email so I can send your prize!

The one thing I discovered on receiving questions is that most weren’t “discussion” questions per se but rather questions for me, which I’m happy to answer before we get into Book club discussion!

1. Of all the books I wrote, what was my most memorable sex scene: BRAZEN’S shower scene! It’s when I knew I could write Blaze!
2. The Jewelry in KISS ME IF YOU CAN – nope, not real, not inspired by anything particular, although Trifari is a real jewelry name and I did research on it.
3. If my characters pinch the bridge of their nose a lot, I wasn’t aware of it. Now I will be, LOL!
4. Of course Yank isn’t going blind quietly (though he is going blind). Yank is learning to live with his macular degeneration condition (unlike my grandmother who gave up) he is still enjoying life in different ways with Lola by his side and his nieces and their kids around often! For now, I won’t be mentioning the Hot Zone in books again for awhile.

Since I received SO many other questions, I think I will save them for next week’s Blog. They’re questions about characters and writing and I’m happy to answer them, so check in again next week!

BOOK CLUB
I’m going to put up 3 questions to discuss today. Feel free to ask one of your own. So here we go, two questions reader inspired, one me inspired!

1. Aside from the book being a romance title, what path did you expect Coop and Lexie to take? Were you surprised by anything that happened between them? Did the romance feel genuine to you?

3. Carly speaking here: When I read a book and the heroine can’t give up something (i.e. Lexie’s traveling and lack of roots) when she falls in love, it drives me nuts because personally I’d do anything to make love work. Not give up ME but compromise. Did you feel Lexie or Coop were too firmly entrenched in their ideas? Or were they properly motivated so you understood where they were coming from?

I found cover flats for the following books:
Kiss Me If You Can
Love Me If You Dare
Lucky Streak
Lucky Break
Hot Number (the most recent cover)

I will pick from today’s posters and you can email me and choose which cover flats you want after I post the winners on Sunday!

Now … LET’S DISH!
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Of course I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t remind you: The sequel to Kiss Me If You Can, LOVE ME IF YOU DARE (Sara and Rafe’s story) is in bookstores and available online TODAY!

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone who stopped by on Friday (my birthday) and posted birthday wishes for me. I read every single one and all your posts made my day all the more special!

I had a great birthday weekend that included two GREAT concerts. The best thing about these concerts (other than spending them with my hubby and daughters) is that they were outdoors. The first one we saw was the 1980’s Austrailian band Crowded House, a an outdoor Amphitheater where you bring your own blankets and chairs and enjoy the concert under the stars. This has become my favorite way to see concerts, especially on a cool summer night with a clear, star-studded sky overhead. Crowded House was awesome live — I loved their Austrailian accents, and the music was fantastic, too!

The second concert we saw was Pink Martini — a Portland, Oregon based band. It’s a twelve member “little orchestra” that crosses genres of all types of music, from classical, to jazz, to old-fashioned pop. This concert was held at the Oregon zoo, again outdoors where you bring your own blankets and chairs and relax and enjoy under the stars. Some people brought picnic dinners, or you could buy all kinds of food there. Since we ate beforehand, we saved room for dessert and had “elephant ears”, a fried dough pastry brushed with butter, then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. YUM!

So, have you ever been to an outdoor, blanket and chair kind of concert? What did you think? Did you like it, or do you prefer sitting indoors when you’re at a concert?

Good Morning! Happy Sunday. Sorry I’m late. I was up until after midnight reading Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh and I BAWLED through the last 1/4 of the book! (if you’re on Twitter you know I’m on a reading BINGE – 8 BOOKS in the last two weeks! all by Nalini Singh.) Anyway, so I’m sure you want the winners, LOL!

The winner of Friday’s Jungle Madness / Janelle’s Birthday Contest, a $25 Amazon Gift Card is:

# 18 – Stacy!

Congratulations, Stacy! Email me at: carly phillips @ mac . com no spaces to confirm your email so I can send your prize!

and

The winner of Saturday’s One Thing with Karen Hawkins, a signed copy of a backlist title! She’s awesome so congrats again is:

# 24 Barbara Elness

Woo Hoo! Barbara, please email Julie at: julie @ julie leto . com (no spaces) to arrange your prize!

And lastly – I promised 3 winners of LOVE ME IF YOU DARE – of those people who sent book club questions! The winners are:

Patricia Sinclair
Denise Sutton :applause
Bella Franco

Congratulations! Email me at: carly phillips @ mac . com no spaces to confirm your email so I can send your prize!

See you at BOOK CLUB Tuesday!
*****

And now for today’s funny:

The Obedient Italian Wife!

There was an Italian immigrant man who had worked all his life, had saved all of his money, and was a real “miser” when it came to his money.

Just before he died, he said to his Italian wife…”When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the after life with me.”

And so he got his wife to promise him, with all of her heart, that when he died, she would put all of the money into the casket with him.

Well, he died. He was stretched out in the casket, his wife was sitting there – dressed in black, (what else), and her best friend was sitting next to her.

When they finished the ceremony, and just before the undertaker got ready to close the casket, the wife said, “Wait just a moment!”

She had a small metal box with her; she came overwith the box and put it in the casket.

Then the undertaker locked the casket down and they rolled it away. So her friend said, “Girl, I know you were not fool enough to put all that money in there with your husband.”

The loyal wife replied, “Listen, I’m an Italian Catholic & I cannot go back on my word. I promised him that I was going to put that money in the casket with him..”

You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him??”

“I sure did,” said the wife. “I got it all together, put it into my account, I wrote him a check…. If he can cash it, then he can spend it.” AMEN!

Send this to every clever Italian female you know and others, and to every man who thinks they are smarter than Italian women!!!

CIAO TUTTI

In her unique and unstoppable style, bestselling author (and all-around fun person to hang out with) KAREN HAWKINS, answers our perennial (or at least weekly) question: What ONE THING do you know now that you’d wish you’d known then…

I thought all writers sat by the pool in pink taffeta, sipping margaritas while my pool boy took dictation. But there is no pink taffeta (well, the old lady down the street who thinks she’s Elvis’s love child sometimes has a glob of it on her head). No margaritas (unless I want to rewrite the entire book). And no pool boy (sob!). It’s just me and my computer and NOTHING ELSE.

Wait…there are no pool boys???

I’m shocked!

But who wants pool boys anyway, when you can have this…

MUCH ADO ABOUT MARRIAGE

Fearless English earl Thomas Wentworth scoffs at failure, trusting in the legendary Wentworth luck to safeguard his spy mission to Scotland. But a single encounter with saucy Scotswoman Fia Maclean turns Thomas’s mission topsy-turvy. All-too-innocently entangling him in his enemy’s trap, the beautiful Fia gives Thomas no escape but to marry her. But Thomas doesn’t know just what he’s marrying into.

With an ancient amulet in Fia’s possession, she wields even more power than her sharp tongue and quick wit. Her cousin, Douglas Maclean stole the magical amulet from the White Witch, Maeve Hurst, and gave it to Fia for safekeeping. But now, with Fia in London with Thomas, the amulet falls into the hands of Queen Elizabeth. Thinking it will be safe in the queen’s hands, Fia leaves it be and focuses on bedeviling her newly betrothed!

Karen is generously giving away a copy of a backlist title (US shipping only) to one of the commenters today. So post away! And thank you, Karen, for your wonderful stories!

Usually we do a whole birthday story with images, but today we’re just going to do a tribute to one of our own. Each one of the Plotmonkeys brings something unique to the group. Today we honor the more silent one of the four. The one who is content to sit back and watch, taking in everything, missing nothing, and knowing just when to step in – when she’s needed most. To me, this is the most valuable kind of friend, the one you know will drop everything to be there for you!

Julie here: Can’t add much to what Carly has said…Janelle is deceptively funny and incredibly down to earth and real. What you see is what you get! We love her to our bones and hope she has a spectacular day!!

Janelle, You are such an amazing woman. I’ve known a lot of women my age, but have seldom known one who is so adept at playing so many roles for the people you care about. You’re an amazing writer, that goes without saying. But you’re also an amazing wife–you and Don have the most lovely relationship, it’s so visible and obvious to everyone who knows you. And as a mom you are just so wonderfully inspiring. We are all mothers of daughters and we all know what a tough job can be, especially as they hit those teenage/young adult years. You’ve handled it with utter aplomb, and have been an absolute model on how to handle life throwing curveballs–like picking up and moving away from family and your home of 15 + years to go to a new state where you know absolutely nobody. You’ve been gracious and upbeat and a role model for knowing how to keep your priorities–your husband, your children, your family, your friends–straight, not letting anything get you down for long. I’m so glad I know you and so glad to call you my friend! – Love, Leslie

PS: Because we know you’re an animal lover, we thought we’d give you something sweet and cuddly and adorable that you might like to curl up with…enjoy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANELLE!

Graphics provided by MySpaceAnimations.com

Since today is also a contest day, I’m giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card in honor of Janelle’s Birthday!
In order to enter, you need to post a HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISH TO JANELLE!

The countdown is here! 6 days until LOVE ME IF YOU DARE hits bookstore shelves and the same 6 days until the KISS ME IF YOU CAN Bookclub here at Plotmonkeys! I don’t think I’ve ever had back to back books out before and this is exciting! Just as one release month dies down, another begins. I am so grateful for all the enthusiasm you’ve shown for this series. In case you want to preorder, click HERE for an easy set of links to the online bookseller of your choosing!

Okay now that the obligatory reminders are out of the way, it’s time to really blog … er talk. What am I busy with these days?

1. Writing – If you’re keeping an eye on the writing counters on the right hand side, you’ll see that SERENDIPITY (10/11) is moving along quickly. Hurray!

2. Knitting – I’m knitting again. I stopped for awhile and took a break. Now I’m using a very cool ribbon yarn to make a lacy, loopy, scarf. It just calls to me. Here’s a sneak peek of where I was a few days ago!

3. Reading – thanks to all of your recommendations, I started a new author and new series. Being a fast reader, I’m now on book 5 of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series and yes I am LOVING these stories! Gimme a Cat of my own, people!

4. Website – I have a brand new carlyphillips.com website and what I like best about it is the ability to “LIKE” and link to Facebook and other places.

What do you think of my new site? Want to talk books? I’m happy to do that too! Knitting? I’m all over that as well. It’s miscellaneous day in the jungle!
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Carly Answers Your Questions – Click HERE at Romance Reviews today Blog!

So, little by little, my vow to become more organized has yielded some nice results. The updated website, for instance. Yes, it was designed by the brilliant Frauke of Crocodesigns, but I actually (with her very patient tutelage) did some of the content updates myself. A few bugs still need to be worked out, but all in all, I’m very pleased.

Armed with my new knowledge, I created a new page for Plotmonkeys, which you can see over on the right hand side. ONE THING Guest Blog feature. I thought this would be a better way for people new to the site or those who don’t visit on the weekends to get caught up.

One of the most important things on my list is getting my 2009 taxes done. I filed an extension, but my accountant is getting impatient and I’ve been trying to get my numbers together to send to him. Other than using all of Sunday searching for my American Express statements from January through July of 2009 only to remember on Tuesday that I didn’t get the card until August, I’m making good progress. Should have those numbers shored up by Friday, God willing.

I also got an interesting review of HARD TO HOLD yesterday. It’s here.

Laurie Gold founded All About Romance and is a very well-known and respected reviewer. I was thrilled when she decided to give my book a read…but I have to confess that I was perplexed by her review…only because I wasn’t sure if she liked the book or not! Let’s be honest…that’s the FIRST question an author asks after reading a review. After a couple of moments of insecurity (I’m an author, after all) I realized that the book touched her on a very personal level…and that’s a good thing. I think I’m not used to that. Ordinarily, I write books that are hot, sexy, even a little edgy and shocking–but I can’t remember writing a book like HARD TO HOLD before and I guess it shows in this “musing” by Laurie Gold. I’m very thankful to her. She reads very fast–but very carefully. I’m jealous!

It’s so nice to have someone “review” a book in more than just a few sentences…she took a great deal of care and time into putting her thoughts down about HARD TO HOLD and honestly, an author cannot ask for more than that! Ever. I’m humbled and happy.

I still haven’t received my new Kindle. I did tell you guys that I murdered my Kindle, right? It was totally manslaughter because it was not pre-meditated. I’d been reading in bed and had tossed the Kindle aside before I fell asleep. At some point, it slipped under the covers and when rolling off the bed, it was under my elbow…and CRACK. That’s a sound I won’t forget for a long time.

So I’m reading on my iPhone until my Kindle 3 ships, which likely won’t be for a while. I just finished Tessa Dare’s LEGEND OF THE WERESTAG. Adorable story. I love that woman’s work and now I’ve read everything she’s published. Next up is Kresley Cole. She has a new book out! Yea!

So…what’s going on in your life? What are you reading? Lots of book birthdays yesterday…Larissa Ione, Kresley Cole & Teresa Medieros, to name a few. Anyone head to the store to pick them right up?

Oh…and it hasn’t stopped raining here for two days, esp. yesterday which was AWFUL. It was also the first day of school. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I homeschool!!!

Most of you probably know I’m a TV junkie. (I’m not the only one around here, I know.)

During the summer, because there are no new episodes airing, we typically watch DVD collections of our favorite series. Right now, we are working our way through all of Lost; we are just finishing up season 2, and we still have a long way to go. (Season 6 comes out on DVD next week! Whoop!) Dexter Season 4 came out this week, and I know we’ll watch that, but we don’t have it yet.

Anyway, sometimes I get tired of watching the same show and we’ll switch to something else. Tonight (Monday, as I write this) it was The X Files.

I have Seasons 1-7 on DVD, and yesterday, Amazon had a special for $13.99 per season—so I scooped up seasons 8 and 9, and we now have the entire series. Feeling inspired to catch up on it again, I just popped in a disc from season 3 and we watched all the episodes. I had forgotten how much I LOVE this show!

The same can’t always be said for every series. Some hold up better than others, as we discovered when we bought the entire collection of the show Moonlighting. We got through the 2 hour pilot (making the girls watch with us) and they were pretty surprised that it was ever picked up, much less that it became a hit. Yes, that fabulous chemistry between Maddie and David was there from the beginning, but the show itself was pretty bad.

The girls were a little more appreciative of Twin Peaks, and of Soap, but didn’t share my adoration of Land of the Lost (not the stupid movie, the original TV show) or of Bruce’s Kolchak: The Night Stalker (an old show from the 60’s that I’d never even heard of, with Darren McGavin—best known as the father from A Christmas Story.) It was a precursor to The X Files, and I could appreciate its campiness, but the kids just didn’t get it.

I dread to think what will happen when I make them sit through Dark Shadows, which I have heard is coming out on DVD soon. Can’t wait!

What about you? Do you ever go back and watch old TV shows? What’s your favorite, and what do you recommend?