Michelle Cary

I’m offer up a free download of Beyond the Tears as a prize, so hop on over and check it out.

Nothing like having inspiration strike. Yesterday I had an idea start and it’s quickly falling into place. So for the moment I’m putting The Price of Love on hold to see this novella through.

I’ve started a new project.  With any luck this will be the sequel to my romantic suspense Ransomed Heart.  That is if I can actually find the time to write it!

With rising cost of fuel and the residual inflation that trails in it’s wake, consumers have chosen to forego luxuries for basic need items.  Unfortunately for small time authors like me and many of my friends we’re now left to worry about where those decisions will leave us.  With fewer sales last year and this year looking even bleaker, Borders, the book store chain who takes chances on new faces in writing is facing a financial crises, one that unfortunately will probably effect thousands of authors.

The most recent rumors include a possibly buy out by rival B&N who not only has a horrible romance department, but carries very few titles from publishers such as Samhain Publishing and The Wild Rose Press, choosing instead to work with the larger and more established NY publishers.  If B&N ends up controlling Borders most of us small time authors can kiss any chances of seeing out books in stores goodbye.

But even if the rumors aren’t true, Borders is in the process of revamping their stores and trying a new selling practice by facing their titles out on the shelf with the cover showing.  This means less shelf space, less stock and less selections to choose from.  For us smaller authors, it also mean our titles will be passed over in favor of more established authors with established track records for sales.  Financially, it’s a smart move, but again for the small time author, just trying to make it, without the support of the big boys like Borders, having any chance of breaking into the print market without selling our souls to the devil and becoming part of the NY publishing conglomerates is slim.  For authors like me and my friends, it truly is a scary time.

Okay, so I’m finally getting around to posting our third and last day in Vegas.  This picture was taken standing on the hoover dam looking out over Lake Mead.  The white line you see is lime deposits left behind after the flood of 1983.  The level rose so high that the spillways were used for the first and only time in the history of the dam.  We spent most of the day here in absolute awe of the sheer magnitude of the structure.    On our way back we stopped at a sad little casino, sitting on a mountainside bluff just outside of boulder city.  We ate dinner at the buffet then headed back to Vegas where we drove the strip before returning to our hotel to pack and prepare for the flight home the next day.  If you’re ever in Vegas, the Hoover Dam is a must see!

That will drag you down if you let them.  I say this because I started out with high hopes of making serious progress on my new WIP – Until the End, today.  Instead, I found myself dealing with issues that shouldn’t be.  Gameboy has successfully pushed me to the point of near insanity with his constant lack of interest in school.  Today he hit a new low, by forging my signature on a progress report that showed he was failing…yep, I said failing math and spelling and God only knows what else.  I’m still waiting on the teacher to e-mail me back with the rest of the grades. 

Dollbaby is acting up today because she’s not the center of attention, gameboy is, and I’ve been reduced to verbal confrontations with mouthy teenagers who feel the need to smoke in the small wooded area behind our house.  I had one today try to tell me it was public property and I should mind my own business.  I informed him that even if it was public property, which it’s not because we pay property taxes on it, I’d be calling the cops and the fire department on them because they’re too young to be smoking and they were creating a fire hazard.  They left, while I’m sure muttering all kinds of nasty things about me under their breath.  So now a cut through from the high school beyond the woods and our development that has been there for years without incident will now have to be fenced in to protect our interests.

So, I’ve decided something.  At soon to be 36, I have officially become my mother.  I no longer understand or have the patience for mouthy pre-teens (ie: gameboy), children who misbehave (dollbaby) and teenagers.  Yep, it’s finally happened…I’m old and I don’t care

So hop on over to Amazon.com and place your order now.  With the Midsummer Night’s Steam series you’re guaranteed to have one hot summer!

Our second day there included a trip to the Springs Preserve and of course the wedding of my brother-in-law.  I would have posted a picture of the happy couple, except like every other money grubbing place out there, we weren’t allowed to take pictures because of course they wanted to make sure my BIL would buy their overpriced photos instead.  So, I decided to post a picture I took during our walk along Fremont Street that evening.   This was an amazing and fun experience that I’d recommend anybody do.  My kiddo’s loved it.  Dollbaby is still asking when we can go back to Fremont Street again.