New Character Q&A Feature!

While browsing through some old writing notes for my contemporary romance series, I discovered something interesting - character Q&A! To get to know the series' heroines better, I compiled a list of fun questions for each to answer that would give me more insight into their characters, something I could look back on while crafting their stories. Some great brain-clouds should be recycled so I took the exact same Q&A and applied it to the characters of my western romance trilogy, the Ridges of Wayback, TX - and boy, did it turn into a party!

The best part of all this is that if you are a member of my exclusive mailing list, you will get a front-row seat to the shenanigans! Starting next month, I'll be including one character Q&A session in each of my monthly reader newsletters. First up is the heroine of Blackest Heart, Stella Ridge! If you're a fan of western romance, the Ridges of Wayback, TX, or character interviews and you haven't yet subscribed to my mailing list, now's your chance! Click on the pink button on the sidebar here at Cozy! Sign-up only takes a few seconds....

This summer I'm thinking about heating things up at The Cozy Page by hosting a character competition. Authors will be able submit their own character's Q&A from their published or soon-to-be published titles to be voted on by the readers. The winning character will be featured in my newsletter and the author will receive an extra special prize! Check back in around mid-May for more contest details....

This month, I'm still planning to celebrate the royal wedding with a round of royalty-inspired articles on romance as well as a recap of the tiara tea party and Disney princess marathon my sister and I will be hosting on the big day! And while I'm on the subject, the awesome baby sis served as a Cozy correspondent at the rodeo last weekend and has agreed to do a recap for all of us, complete with pictures from the event. Stay tuned for that within the next week or so. In the meantime, I'm trying to think of a good correspondent alias for her.... Hm....

I've been a bit quiet on the blog lately. I apologize for that. The hub helped my mother move into her new house on the water in my hometown, which is where my contemporary series takes place. The spot on the water where she now resides is very near to where I imagined the heroine of the first book's bed-and-breakfast would be. Now as I go about recharging the muse for another round of contemporary rewrites for book two, I have the perfect place to go for inspiration! My writing sessions will now include gorgeous pics from the shore. I promise to post them here for everyone to see. (I'm also considering doing a similar inspiration feature for this year's anniversary trip to the family lakehouse in northern Alabama.)

The hub and I recently added a new sleigh bed to our home. Thanks to some redecorating, the office shelves he built for our anniversary last year will have a new home in my office. I know what you're thinking; this calls for a new office vidblog tour. The last one I did, I think, was in 2008 so I owe everyone an update....

All these exciting new features and more are coming your way soon! Stay up-to-date on everything here at Cozy, checking my website for updates, and by subscribing to my newsletter!

Personal Note & Spreading the Word

I usually don't blog about anything outside the writing or reading sphere, but I'm a resident of the Gulf Coast and I wanted to dedicate today's post to what's happening here. It is amazing to me that one mistake can lead to so much destruction. Since moving to the coast 15 years ago, oil rigs have always been a part of the horizon (as seen below). If at any time in these 15 years someone would have told me something could wreak such devastation, I would have pegged it on the weather. Hurricanes are a part of life and I've seen firsthand what happens when a storm like Ivan or Katrina hits a gulf town. But this disaster is man-made and not only is the economy and so many people that I know's very livelihood in grave peril, the marine wildlife that is so much a part of the Gulf might not ever be the same. It's been a scary week, but I know the coming one will bring extreme levels of sadness and anger. Most sobering of all to me is that my children may not know the natural beauty of their home like I did because of circumstances that could have and should have been prevented. *Note: the picture of this rig was taken by my sister from the Gulf Coast shoreline, less than twenty miles from my home.

If you are a southern or Gulf Coast resident, the call has already gone out. Please think about or at least spread the word on the clean-up effort. Here are further details from the Mobile Press-Register:

MOBILE, Ala -- Calling all volunteers.

The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Mobile BayKeeper and the Alabama Coastal Foundation are collecting contact information from individuals who are interested in assisting with cleanup efforts along the Alabama coast should oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill reach the state's shores.

"Right now volunteers are not being deployed but we want to be prepared and ready to assist when asked to help by Unified Command," said Roberta Swann of the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program.

People interested in adding their names to a list of volunteers should contact one of the organizations listed below to assist in coordinated cleanup activities. Contact information should include: name, street address, phone, email address and a list of any available resources such as boats, plastic bags or gloves.

Alabama Coastal Foundation 251-990-6002 Info@joinacf.org

Mobile Bay NEP 251-431-6409 mbnep@mobilebaynep.com

Mobile Baykeeper 251-433-4229 callaway@mobilebaykeeper.org

In closing, here's a link to my favorite part of the Gulf Coast - Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama. Check out the beach photo gallery and keep the residents and wildlife of Lousisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida in your thoughts this coming week. Thank you!

WICKED!!!!!

Friday my mother, my sister, and I departed on a girls road trip to Birmingham to see the muscial Wicked onstage based off of Gregory MacGuire's book...which in turn is another look at The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Though Oz has never been quite so fun as it was onstage at the beautiful Convention Center's Concert Hall yesterday! Not only does this story have a beautiful message about friendship and dreams and what really constitutes good and evil (I'll never be able to look at that scarecrow the same again) but it's also a love story!!! I won't give away any spoilers, but I will say if Wicked is coming to a theatre near you, I highly recommend it!

Woohoo! I've officially been Wicked-ified!

MORE GOOD NEWS!!!

An editor from The Wild Rose Press's Champagne Rose line just contacted me this evening to offer me a contract for A Summer's Hope, the first book in the series I wrote about my hometown Fairhope (glimpsed above)! All my stories are like my babies, but there are a few precious ones out there and this is one of them so this is an especially sweet moment all around!

More news on A Summer's Hope and Denied Origin will be posted as soon as it's available.

Today be sure to stop by my fellow Red Rose Publishing author Rose Marie Wolf's blog where I'm guest-blogging about the all-important writing "process" and for an EXCLUSIVE reader's peak at Denied Origin!

http://www.rosemariewolf.blogspot.com/

Oh and by the way: HAVE A LOVELY TUESDAY!!!!