BMG

Hello everyone, Dani here waving from her office and  reporting in to tell you about my wonderful day.  First I was gently awaken by my husband who brought me a cup of coffee while I lounged in bed. Then, as I sipped my morning caffeine, he drew me a bubble bath, lit candles, turned on soft music and left me alone to enjoy the solitude before I had to face my day.

Oh, wait! Back up….rewind, rewind. 

Husband yelled “It’s 5:30. Ya getting up.” Then he promptly rolled over and went back to sleep for a half hour.  Me? I jumped up and hustled downstairs to turn on the coffee pot, run out and get the paper, tossed it on the table and then ran back upstairs to throw on some clothes so I could get my dog, Rocky, to the groomer’s by 7 A.M.

Why so early?  Because Rocky’s a barker. He has to go in first so they can get him in and out before anyone else arrives.  He barks non stop from the time he walks through the door till he leaves.  This morning, I was assured by the new girl at the salon Rocky would be no problem. I tried to warn her, but she seemed to know more than me about dogs.  Okay…so…I left.

Two hours later, she called for me to pick him up, only this time her voice was a bit rattled.  “Rocky is ready. And…could you please hurry.”

Yikes, that kinda scared me. He is an old dog. Maybe he had a heart attack or something.  “Is he okay? Should I bring my husband with me?”

“He’s fine. He’s just driving us all nuts.”

“Oh! I’ll be right there.”

When I arrived, he looked beautiful and, yes, I tipped her well.

After Rocky was safely deposited at home, I hustled off to meet with my writing partner.  We finished up our topic on a talk we’re doing tomorrow night at Glendale Community College.  Alexis Walker, a friend and member of our local RWA writing chapter, Valley of the Sun, asked us if we would speak to her class about team writing.  And, BTW, we get asked about that a lot.  It seems to fascinate prople that we can write together and make it work so well.  I added the ’so well’ part.  My personal opinion. LOL.

We put the workshop together and titled it - “Survival Tips by Tia Dani.  If You Want To Walk The Walk…Then Walk This Way.”

Carol Webb will be there too, talking on networking and promo and Vijaya Schartz will be speaking on websites.  Lots of great info from our Valley of the Sun and Desert Rose writers.  I’ll let you know how it goes. 

We’re pretty new at this speaking thing.  It will be fun, I’m sure.  One of the reasons, I think we write so well together is because we’ve created a voice for Tia Dani.  We’ve worked hard to combine our personalities to form a completely new person.  This took some experimenting and practice.  It didn’t happen overnight.

We read aloud to each other what’s been written.  Actually, I read till my voice gives out then Tia reads till her voice is gone.  Over and over we do this, constantly listening to the rhythm of the story.  If something doesn’t sound right to us, or work the way we like, we talk about it until we agree on the wording and pacing.  The end result?  We both have to be happy.  It has to sound like Tia Dani.

In fact, recently we’ve become so used to being Tia Dani that we often talk in sort of a mixture of words.  What Tia begins with I often finish the sentence.  Or it’s vice versa.

Some days, it gets so bad that some of our friends hold their heads between their hands and say, “Enough, I’m beginning to feel like the bouncing ball following the words.”

Tia and I immediately look at each other and grin.  It’s so much fun discovering who Tia Dani really is.

Yep, Tomorrow is another day and there will certainly be another adventure for Tia Dani to experience.

I’m having the time of my life.

Dani 

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   What does it mean when you have gained 5 pounds, are so body sore you can barely move, have a suitcase bulging with books and every sort of author promo item you can think of?  You’re a 2008 RT survivor! 

I had the best time. I enjoyed RT even more than last year.  Pittsburgh is beautiful, what I saw of it anyway. The hillsides were green and the tulips were blooming. And from our window on the 20th floor, Kayce and I had a nice view of the river. 

However if I had it all to do over, I’d change one thing.  I’d have gone to the dinner that Fabio was at and had my picture taken with him. I mean really, what was I thinking? It was Fabio for goodness sakes!  It is so me, to not get involved and then later, after a couple of butterscotch martini’s, decide that I want to be in the middle of all the hoopla. Only this time it was too late to go to the dinner by the time I decided I wanted to meet him. So like Kayce told you earlier I had to become a Fabio stalker.  And my quest was very unsuccessful.  I kept missing him by only minutes!  Darn it. 

And yes, there was a moment in time when I thought about thumping Kayce when I heard that she rode the elevator with him.  Geesh, you’d think a real friend would have thought to use her cell phone and have me there when they got off the elevator. But no…I get told about it all later.  Ah well, I’ll forgive her, after all when you’re standing next to the King of Romance, I’d expect you’d  have your mind on something other than calling your girl friends. 

Later that night, Isabella saw him headed toward the restroom and ran to get me, but by the time we got back, he was gone.  Missed him again!  Still all was not lost, we found our friend C J Hollenbach and I had a picture taken with him. I think it’s on Isabella’s camera and will eventually turn up.  Just as good as one taken with Fabio and maybe even better.  

Speaking of picture taking. We should have some more great pictures to post when Carol takes them off her camera.  No pressure, take your time, I’m not dying to see them or anything. I’m just glad Carol brought her camera. I went off and forgot mine. So I’m greatful for any taken. Thanks again, Carol. I know I drove you crazy with, “Take a picture, take a picture!”  Isabella has some good ones too, so there should be no shortage of fun pictures.  Oh, and I did manage to have my picture taken with the band guy from the Impalers.  Sonny, or was it Ren D’Antoni??

When I got home and told my hubby about our trip and my search for Fabio, he reminded me that I had my very own cover model right here at home. Him!  Yes, it’s true, he was on the cover of a magazine once. The Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders magazine.  Of course he was fully dressed and the distribution of the magazine wasn’t much to brag about since it only goes out to local members, but he was still on the cover. Works for me!  I think I’ll dig that issue out and frame it. Maybe hang it on my office wall.

Oh well, back to RT.

Overall I met and made so many new friends, it was fantastic. Especially all The Wild Rose Press authors and Rhonda and RJ. What fun to now have faces to go with the names.  And, I was thrilled to meet Amanda, my editor. She is so pretty and what a character.  We really hit it off.  Amanda and I danced till we dropped at the Dorchester party.  Probably one reason I’m so body sore.  It’s been a long time since I danced that much. Good thing I’ll  have a year to rest up. I bet I’ll need it. 

More good news. Our Butterscotch Martini Girls Critique workshop was a big success. We had a better turnout than we even hoped for and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  We focused on answers to all the critiquing challenges.  Especially for the new writers who are somewhat overwhelmed and not sure how or what is expected from them when giving a critique.   We had quite a good question and answer session too.  And, afterward we received some good feedback. All in all I think it went really well and it was a unanimous BMG decision to give another workshop next year.  Still it was a big relief when it was all over and we could relax.  So much so that it called for a celebration, more butterscotch martini’s.  And I need to add a big thank you, Vijaya Schartz!  She gave us a wonderful impromptu introduction.

 Before I forget. Mega congratulations 2008 Mr. Romance winner Chris Winters!

When my email arrives to ask if I plan on attending again in 2009, you bet I’ll respond with count me in!  RT Orlando ‘09!  See you there!!!!

                                        Quote de jour 

“If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it!  If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.  If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.”

                              - Nora Roberts -

Well, I’m off to get some edits done today.  It’s time to get back to work.

Happy writing everyone,

Dani/Tia Dani

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       Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.  I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

                             Louisa May Alcott

Have a wonderful day, 

Tia Dani

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Hey everyone, I’m on overload with all the promo and getting ready for Desert Dreams and RT.  Thank goodness, I’m two. We’ve split up the workload and I’m starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe I’ll get though this after all. But I sure don’t know how you girls with full time day jobs do it. I had a very busy last week and it really put me behind with my writing. And my house, well that’s another story. I may have to break down and do some laundry soon, we’re about to run out of clothes.

I did make corned beef & cabbage for St. Paddy’s day. It turned out pretty good. For years we celebrated the day with our good friends, Bill and Mikel and she did the cooking, but they moved to WA last year,  so it was left up to me. I tried a different recipe for the carrots and used a brown sugar glaze. I have to say they were yummy. Easy to do too. Just cover baby carrots in water and simmer till tender then drain and return to pan, Pampered Chef skillet of course, then add butter and brown sugar and heat till glazed. Easy enough.

Okay, back to my promo. Tia Dani may try and put a basket together for Desert Dreams raffel. I’ll have to call Susan and see if there’s still time. I think today might be the last day to let her know. I need to check on that. I always put everything off till the very last minute. Someday I’ll change this bad habit. Well, someday I’ll work on changing this habit.

Oh, we have our edits back for Color Of Dreams. We’ll be working on them just as soon as Tia gets back from Florida. Our editor asked us not to get them back to her to quickly.  She is very busy right now too, and said for us to take our time. Works for us since one of us is on vacation.

Tia and I still talk by phone or im’s everyday. Good thing I have unlimited long distance, I think we were on the phone for 3 hours yesterday. We did manage, however, to plot out another book.  It will be a follow up for Color Of Dreams.  We love our characters so much from CoD that a couple of them will show up in our next book too. We’re hoping that everyone will love them as much as we do.

Well, I best be getting back to work. Here’s wishing everyone has a great day and gets everything accomplished that they have on their ‘to do’ list for today. As for me, I hardly know where to start, but I’d better get at something before the day gets away from me. Maybe I need to make a list. Speaking of list, I’m making a list of reasons why team writing is a good thing. I’m really finding out how much it works for me. Like I said earlier, thank goodness I’m two, and how in the world do you all keep up with everything and take care of your family and hold down a day job?  Writers are amazing!

Talk to you later.

Dani/Tia Dani

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